-3-day Int’l Tourism Fest kicks off
By Minahil Makhdoom
ISLAMABAD: Three-day International Tourism Festival kicked off in Islamabad on Friday. Inaugurating the event, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said the present government under the leadership of Prime Minister is giving special emphasis to the promotion of tourism. He said tourism will help promote different industries including hoteling and help provide job opportunities to the youth. In his remarks, Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan asked the people to fully participate in the festivities of the event. He said promotion of tourism will also have a positive impact on the country’s economy. Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination Fehmida Mirza said Islamabad is the most beautiful and peaceful city. She said promotion of tourism and sports is very close to the heart of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Special Assistant on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfikar Bukhari were also present on the occasion.
The event has been designed to showcase adventure sports like para gliding, accuracy landing, wing suit flying, trike flying, sky diving, and power para gliding as part of the field marshal paragliding Championship. This iconic event also envisages concerts, horse parade, food stalls, corporate and educational expos.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistani and Human Resource Development, Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari called the masses to visit the three-day long Mega Islamabad Tourism Festival with their families as family recreation was the base of tourism in the country. The event was organized by Pakistan Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (PHPA) in collaboration with the Cutting Edge Group at Fatima Jinnah Park here.
Speaking on the inauguration ceremony he said it was an adventure tourism festival and Pakistan was an ideal spot of adventure tourism in the world. He asked the media to make VLOG and highlight the mega festival to show traditions of the country to the entire world. The event would encompass a wide range of events including adventurous sports like Paragliding, family food fest and colorful musical concert.
Zulfi said that the government had facilitated the organizers of the event and provided full cooperation to successfully hold the festival. He also thanked the ministries for collaborating extensively and providing assistance as a team for organizing the first ever tourism festival of the Capital. He said that there were a few places on earth that were blessed with the wonders of nature and scenic spots whereas Islamabad was bestowed with natural magnificence and landscape with a thriving wildlife habitat along with clean and green environment. The Tourism Festival would have lots of fun activities such as paragliding, wing suit flying and sky diving among others as well as a vintage cars show and there would be an interactive discussion season at the Convention Centre on Sunday. The festival would continue till March 7.
