Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
Speakers at a seminar to mark the World Tourism Day urged the authorities and the tourism management companies to prioritize green investments on services and infrastructure at the tourist destinations across the country.
Using non-timber fuel, alternate energy, water conservation, solid waste management and environment friendly practices shall be promoted to ensure sustainable eco-tourism.
The seminar was organized by the Devcom-Pakistan, ICLC and National Skills University (NSU) here on Wednesday to mark the World Tourism Day, themed on “Tourism and Green Investments”.
The managing director Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) AftaburRehmanRana was the chief guest on the occasion.
The guest speakers included Vice Chancellor NSU Prof. Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar, President Rural Development Foundation (RDF) Brig. (Retd) Muhammad Khan, Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed, Secretary ICLC SibtainRaza, CEO Apex Adnan Saeed, SumeraRaza and Rana Tariq Javed.
The MD Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) AftaburRehmanRana said that Pakistan’s tourism and hospitality industry contributes 3.5 percent to the country’s GDP. Most of which is contributed by the domestic tourism that has flourished in recent years.
About 6.5 million people are directly or indirectly engaged in the industry. This is quite unfortunate that only a few know or are willing to invest in the green practices.
The federal government has taken the provincial authorities onboard to ensure sustainable ecotourism models, Rana said adding, more awareness campaigns and stakeholders’ engagement is desired to control the undue interventions.
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar urged the youth to travel across the heavenly land of Pakistan that is full of diverse culture and landscape. Outdoor is an open book that makes the travelers learn about the cultural and heritage assets of the country.
Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed urged the authorities to control the damage to the green cover that is being done by the environment, unfriendly structures, housing societies, timber mafia, littering and unmanaged solid waste. Local communities are the main stakeholder of the tourist destinations. They shall come up to form their associations to raise voice against the exploitation of their homelands.
