Tourism Events Calendar For Malakand Division

Abstract

Events Calendar is very important in tourism, which inform and guide tourists about various events taking place at a destination. The main objective of the study was to identify tourism events in Malakand Division in order to attract tourists and structure a proper tourism events calendar for tourism planning, management, promotion and sustainable development of tourism in the area. To have in depth analysis of the proposed study, data was collected through interviews with tourism officials, tourism and hospitality teachers, event organizers, members of the local community, tour operators and hospitality managers. Structured interviews were carried out for the collection of data. Thematic analysis method was used to analyze the data and thereafter results were drawn. The study reveals that Malakand Division has diverse cultural, religious, heritage, adventure and seasonal tourist events. But the lack of a formal tourism event calendar has led to weak event coordination, promotion, effective tourism event management, event overlap, tourist follow and awareness in the local communities. The study proposes a thorough tourism event calendar, proper documentation form of events, better coordination of stakeholders, effective promotion of events and a digital platform for tourism information, which will improve destination management, tourism experience and sustainable development of tourism in Malakand Division.

Keywords: Tourism Event Calendar, Sustainable Tourism, Malakand Division.