Daily Times

Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Managing Director Aftab Rana Monday said that the government was taking multiple initiatives to promote Pakistan’s tourist destination image globally and first ever Pakistan’s tourism brand campaign would be launched till the month of September 2021.

Talking to a Private news channel, MD PTDC said that foreign tourist economy of Pakistan will further grow over 2 to 3 billion which would be a major contributor for Pakistan’s economy as well as its GDP growth.

While explaining the project, he said the ‘Pakistan tourism brand’ had an exclusive tourism portal, which was meant to promote the country’s tourist attractions across the world through virtual galleries, videos and documentaries.

It would provide world-class exposure to Pakistan’s tourist attractions through one click. It consisted of a user-friendly interface to interact with the prospective tourists and give them the necessary and latest information about the country’s tourist attractions, he added.

He said flights to Skardu International Airport would open a new travel corridor for domestic and international tourists from the month of August 2021.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan was giving special attention to the tourism sector and introduced a “new revolutionary visa policy” to encourage tourism in the country, adding, “Security and NOC conditions for foreign tourists are much better than the previous regime now.

He said for the facilitation of foreign tourists the Pakistan government was in close contact with various Airline companies for better coordination with tourist operators globally.

MD said for the first time in the history of Pakistan the current government had also introduced an online Visa facility for foreign tourists which would increase the number of tourists in the country.

Talking about another milestone project, he said Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) has also prepared a draft on National Tourism Strategy 2021- 2030 and Action Plan 2021- 2025 to promote tourism in the country at the national and international level.

He said with long, medium and short term a national action plan draft was prepared with the consultation of all private and public stakeholder partnership under the vision of Prime Minister Imran khan.

Replying to a Query, he said the government has also designed multiple careful SOPs for local as well as foreign tourists in areas where Covid situation is better after lockdown.

The visitors would fill a health declaration form at the entrance of the tourist spots, he said, adding, the visitors would be required to carry sufficient quantity of face masks, sanitizers and a report of negative Covid report, he added.

He said websites and mobile apps have also been developed for providing online details of hotels, rest houses, camping pods, and other essential services and facilities in tourist destinations adding that now all types of tourist information are available to the tourists online, he added.