President Dr Arif Alvi has stressed the need for exploring the potential of the tourism sector to ensure economic progress and prosperity of Pakistan, WealthPK reports.

In his message on the eve of World Tourism Day, he said that the government has been focusing on the tourism sector for the last several years. He said that there is a dire need to come up with long-term strategic planning to boost the tourism industry on a sustainable basis and set new boundaries for securing its future.

“Today, we are celebrating World Tourism Day 2022 to renew our pledge for setting priorities to consider the potential of the tourism sector in order to advance the economic prosperity and progress of our country. Pakistan is a country with attractive and wonderful tourist sites in the world due to its remarkable landscape, diversity and rich history of ancient civilisations. It also has religious tourism attractions,” he added.

President Alvi said that tourism is an integral source of income for the people and it is certainly relevant to local economic development and the improvement of civic facilities in the far-flung areas.

“Tourism is a source of earning foreign exchange, a tool for job creation and poverty alleviation,” he said. Undoubtedly, it also created harmony among people from different parts of the country, he added.

“As the theme of this year’s World Tourism Day is ‘Rethinking Tourism’, now we have the opportunity to rethink about this sector that has been first hit by the Covid-19 pandemic along with the rest of the world and now it is badly affected by the super floods in Pakistan,” said President Alvi.

He said that besides the need to increase the number of foreign tourists travelling in Pakistan, programmes should be developed with a special focus on safe and secure tourism. “I am sure that the government will utilise all its resources to turn the challenges into opportunities by restarting the industry from the grassroot level and ensuring the cooperation and collaboration of allied government agencies to come out of the crisis and rebuild better,” said the message received by WealthPK.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk