Religious Tourism: Problems faced by Sikh tourists in Pakistan * Abstract
This study was conducted to find out the difficulties and problems which are faced by the Sikh community in the city of Nankana Sahib, the founding city of Sikhism. A hassle-free travel in a country results in more tourists with the passage of time. The method of questionnaire-based survey was used to conduct this research. The questions asked in this survey are related to security setups, social atmosphere, travel and local transport, political influence in the area, free to practice the religion, economy condition of the country. The end result show us that dangerous threats and lack of government attention are the problems faced by Sikh tourists. * Table Of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Literature Review 3. Methodology 4. Results & Discussion 5. Conclusion 6. References

* Introduction
Tourism can be defined as the travelling of individuals and accommodating themselves outside their usual locations. This accommodation process cannot be longer than one year, even if it’s for leisure, business or any purpose. It is an important activity to many countries as it affects social, cultural, educational and economic sectors of national societies (UNWTO, 1995). In 2012, Asia and the Pacific region showed rapid increase of tourism and travel business (UNWTO, 2013).
Religious Tourism is a part of tourism. In religious tourism, people travel around the world to visit religious holy places, temples, shrines and similar locations. Annually, millions of people travel to religious heritage sites, both old and new in origin. (Jackowski & Smith,1992). Only recently government and travel agencies have noticed the growth of religious travelers in the world (Olsen & Timothy, 1999)
The religion of Sikhism was founded by Baba Guru Nanak who was born in 1469 at Talwandi which is now known as Nankana Sahib in the district of Punjab, in Pakistan. Many of the shrines related to Sikhism are located in Pakistan. (Planning & Development Division, Government of Pakistan, 2006).
The aim of this research is to find out the difficulties faced by the Sikh community tourists, both domestic and international. Pakistan has only a population of 80,000 (Planning & Development Division, Government of Pakistan, 2006). Looking from a PEST point of view, there can be many problems, such as lack of political support, economy downfall causing hurdles, negative behavior from the society and lack of new vehicles regarding local transports. This research shall be conducted with the method of survey-based questionnaire and perform a survey analysis on the collected data.
Objective of this research is to bring forward all of the problems that the Sikh people describe during our questionnaire process. Hopefully, respective authorities will try to reduce these problems so there can be no type of hassle while travelling for the Sikh community. * Literature Review
As stated by (Strategic Initiatives & Government Advisory (SIGA) Team, 2012), there are lots of problems faced by religious travelers. Local drivers of public transports, often in greed of earning fares, put to many passengers on their vehicles. Most of the time, if there is road construction along the way or even bad weather, the vehicle loses control and results in accidents or even life loss.
The local municipality takes no proper care of the trash or waste around the religious or heritage sites. This results in infecting the tourists and polluting the surrounding vicinity. These infections give bad diseases to the person which can even be life threatening.
Many temples and shrines often use the candles or burning regarding sacred traditions which result in air pollution.
People are monetizing religions by selling all sorts of religious souvenirs and charging high prices just because their shop is near a shrine or a temple.
A growing problem is that many religious trusts funds are turning out to be fake or a fraud. The lack of government attention is making this happen. People are confused as where to donate their money to help respective shrines and heritage sites.
(UNWTO, 2013) states that in 2012, 27% people travelled for religious purposes, but this population also includes people who travelled because of visiting friends and relatives (VFR), health treatment, etc.
(Shackley, 2001) has said that instability in the country, ranging from terrorist threats to government policies (tax, bans, etc) to interest in the religious site by different groups (social, religious or political) can cause problems in the management. * Methodology
Questionnaire-based survey was chosen as the method to conduct this research. This method was chosen because it is inexpensive, not time consuming and fast. The location at which we are going to conduct this survey is the founding city of Sikhism, Nankana Sahib. Around a sample of 50 people were given these questionnaires. They filled it and handed it back to us. The questions were regarding security, social environment, travelling, transportation, etc. * Results & Discussions * Gender & Age of the respondents
The percentages of gender and ages of the respondents given these questionnaires are as follows:

All of the respondents were of Male gender. 60% of the respondents belong in the 20-28 years of age group. 20% of the respondents were less than 20 years. 20% of respondents were older than 28 years. * Satisfaction of security setup
The security arranged for any area is very important. Regarding Pakistan’s current state, there are lots of terrorist attacks and other dangerous activities happening. A good security setup is needed to stop these threats and create a peaceful society.

According to our results, 60% respondents strongly agreed that security setup is good. 10% of respondents agreed with the statement. 14% respondents disagreed with the question and 12% strongly disagreed. 4% did not agree or disagree. * Security personnel do effective duty
We asked this question because the local police, security guards or any security personnel often procrastinate. They do not take their duties seriously. That’s why we asked the respondents, the locals of the region, to tell us about the security personnel’s performance.

80% people strongly agreed that the security personnel do their duties effectively. 8% respondents agreed with the statement. 4% did not agree or disagree. 8% strongly disagreed. * No danger from threats
Pakistan has been the victim of terrorism for many years. There are threats lurking every day. We asked our respondents, did they felt that are in danger from terrorism threats or something related.
Only 6% respondents agreed that there are not threats. 4% respondents did not agree or disagree. But 90% respondents felt there are regular threats from various types of danger. * Friendly atmosphere and social environment
For multiple religious communities to exist in one society there must be a sense of tolerance. A friendly atmosphere and social environment is required for a blissful society to exist. We asked our respondents to tell us whether they see the social environment friendly or not.

100% people strongly agreed that the environment and social atmosphere of Nankana Sahib is friendly. No one said that the society is unfriendly. * Local people are friendly
This question was mostly based towards the international tourists who were in Nankana Sahib. We asked whether the local people treat the Sikhs in a friendly manner or not. Regards to results of our previous question, it is obvious that the local people are friendly with Sikhs, both domestic and international. 100% respondents strongly agreed and said that the people are friendly mannered. * Nankana Sahib is easy to reach
With the passage of times, roads have been built throughout Pakistan. These include highways, motorways, etc. However, there are some places not accessible by road or rail road. We asked this question to ask that is it easy to reach the city of Nankana Sahib or not.

90% respondents told us that they strongly agreed that it is not that difficult to reach Nankana Sahib through road or railroad. 10% also agreed that but said there are some hassles along the way. * Travelling is affordable within Pakistan
This question is related to the economic conditions of Pakistan. We asked that is it easy to travel within Pakistan from one city to another. Due to increment in fuel prices, the transport fares have also increased. 76% respondents said that travelling within Pakistan is not difficult. 4% respondents agreed. 20% people did not agree or disagree. * No problems with the local transport
With various incidents regarding local transports, we asked our respondents to tell us whether they had any problems while using the local transport. These problems can be not being on time, hassles while on the road and such.

84% respondents said that they strongly agreed with the fact that the local transport is problem-free. 10% respondents agreed with this statement. 6% did not agree or disagree. * Local elected politicians are supportive
We asked our respondents that did the local politicians, to whom they gave their votes, help them in any way. Politicians could support the Sikh community by giving them permissions for their events or even maintain stability with the different religious sects and communities.

20% respondents strongly agreed that the local politicians helped them. 6% respondents did not agree or disagree. 24% respondents disagree with this statement and 50% strongly disagreed with this statement saying that the local politicians never support them.

* Government provided facilities
We asked the respondents to tell us that has the government provided facilities and if they have, are they useful or not. The government can provide facilities such as lower fares to Sikhs, proper security, public schools and colleges, etc.

32% respondents have strongly agreed with the statement that government facilities are useful to them. 8% respondents agreed to it. 10% respondents did not agree or disagree. 20% respondents disagreed and 30% strongly disagreed. * No restrictions to religious practices
We asked whether there are restrictions to the religious practices of the Sikhs or not. These restrictions are put in effect by the local politicians or the government of the country.
40% respondents strongly agreed that they do not face any restrictions regarding their religious practices. 12% respondents agreed and 18% did not agree or disagree. 10% disagreed and 20% strongly disagreed, saying that they are restricted from performing religious practices. * Economy did not effect travelling
We asked the respondents that has the economy affected their travelling regarding internationally and domestically.

40% respondents strongly agreed that change of economy did not affect their travel routines while 40% respondents agreed. 20% respondents did not agree or disagree with this statement. * Local stuff (souvenirs, gifts, etc) are reasonably priced
We asked that is the local amenities are normal priced or are they high priced because of the Gurdwara location.
40% respondents strongly agreed that the amenities are reasonably priced while 20% respondents only agreed. 14% did not agree or disagree. 16% disagreed and 10% said that these amenities are highly priced than usual. * Conclusion
This research was conducted with the mission to find out which problems are faced by the Sikh community in the city of Nankana Sahib. A method of questionnaire-based survey was used to gather the data from the people of Nankana Sahib. There were about 50 questionnaires conducted. On this raw data, we performed simple survey-analysis to find out the result.
This portion shall summarize the conclusion with regards to categories. These categories are security, social environment, travel and transport, political influence, religious freedom, economy.
First of all is “security”. Sikhs are satisfied with the security setup which has been provided for them. They say that the security personnel do their duties effectively and have no problem with them. However, most people do not feel safe as there are threats of danger every day. People do not feel safe in the city.
Next category is “social environment”. All of the people whom we gave the questionnaire strongly agreed that the atmosphere and social environment is very friendly. The local people (non-Sikh) treat them very well and behave well mannered.
Discussing “travel and transport”, we can say that most people do not face any problems while travelling. It is easy to reach the city of Nankana, as stated by our respondents. The travelling is affordable and the economy had a minor effect on the travelling process. Most did not face problems with the local transport.
“Political Influence” is an interesting category. The local elected politicians DO NOT support the Sikh community in any way. They are not seen ever since they are elected. However, a few people did say that the politicians help them. On the topic of government facilities, there is an equilibrium effect. Half the people say that they are satisfied with the government-provided facilities and the other half say that the government has never ever given them any facility. The Sikh community says that they are “ignored” by the government.
“Religious freedom” is the next category. The Sikh people do not feel any kind of oppression regarding their rituals. They are allowed to practice their religious duties. However, some Sikhs say that they are restricted to do some religious practices.
The final category is “economy”. The economy has not affected the Sikh community in any way. Fares are increased but it is not a major problem. The local amenities are fairly priced. In some cases, local shopkeepers raise the price of their products just because of the nearby famous location.
In final words, we can say that Sikh community of Nankana Sahib ace two major problems: * Threats of danger * Lack of attention from politicians and government
If these problems are dealt with, we can show the Sikh community and the world, that Pakistan is a great nation that caters to all of its citizens regardless of the ethnic background or religion.

* References * United Nations World Tourism Organization. (1995). Collection of Tourism Expenditure Statistics. UNTWO; Spain. * Jackowski, A. and Smith, V.L. (1992) “Polish pilgrim-tourists,” Annals of Tourism Research. * Employment & Research Section, Planning & Development Division, Government of Pakistan. (2006). Pre-Feasibility Study for Sikh Pilgrimage & Development Facilities near Sikh Shrines. Islamabad. * Strategic Initiatives & Government Advisory (SIGA) Team. (2012) “Diverse Beliefs: Tourism of Faith Religious tourism gains ground” FICCI, New Delhi. * Olsen, D.H. and Timothy, D.J. (1999) “Tourism 2000: selling the Millennium,” Tourism Management 20: 389–392. * UNWTO Tourism Highlights, 2013 Edition. * Shackley, M. (2001b) “Sacred World Heritage Sites: balancing meaning with management,” Tourism Recreation Research 26(1): 5–10.