Wednesday, December 26, 2012 – Islamabad—Diplomats can play vital role for promoting Pakistan’s tourist destinations in their respective countries.
This was stated by Managing Director Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation Mir Shahjahan Khetran here on the occasion of reception hosted by PTDC in honour of diplomats.
He said that UNWTO has launched a new campaign on 13th December titled “One Billion Tourists – One billion opportunities”.
Pakistan has also joined this campaign by collecting comments and remarks of tourists for improvement in tourism sector who shall visit our Tourist Information Centres, Hotels and Motels.
He appraised the audience that Pakistan has a variety of products to offer to visitors from the all over the world. Mountains, white water sports, hiking areas in Pakistan are ideal for adventure tourists, valleys, deserts, beaches for nature lovers, Buddhist heritage sites of Gandhara, Sikh sacred shrines, Hindu holy temples, Indus valley civilization sites are best-suited for pilgrims, scholars and students.
Cosmopolitan cities of Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/ Islamabad offer an attractive mix of culture, heritage, modernity and countless shopping opportunities.
Pakistan’s Himalayan hill stations of Murree, Bhurban, Patriata, Ayubia and Nathiagali are a delightful summer retreat.
He informed that Pakistan is already providing visa on arrival facility to tourist groups from 24 countries.
More interaction between public and private sector tourism organizations and increased participation in tourism exhibitions and conferences would also be sought.
He added that PTDC being a federal government corporation is offering tourism services for foreign and Pakistani tourists through its Tourist Information Centres, its Publicity and Promotion department, Hotels, Motels and Tours & Transport Subsidiaries.
PTDC, with its largest chain of Hotels, Motels and Restaurants, a fleet of tourist transport and professional staff, is well equipped to cater for all needs of our guests.
PTDC’s subsidiary, Pakistan Tours Limited is organizing package tours and treks, renting tourist transport, booking of hotels and motels and operating number of international and domestic bus services including Lahore – Delhi, Lahore – Amritsar, Nanakana Sahib – Amritsar, Pakistan – China and Rawalpindi to Naran.
Besides offering tour and transport services to Pakistani and foreign tourists, PTDC is specialized in handling group tours and official delegates.
Diplomats and commercial counsellors from Indonesia, Tajikistan, Iran, Thailand, Syria, Australia, Mauritius, Oman, Myanmar and Nepal, were present in the reception.