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Rules drafted to execute Rs 1bln tourism endowment fund

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Oct 11, 2019: In another leap forward to harness tourism potential in the country, the federal government has finalized rules for execution of Rs one billion Tourism Endowment Fund.

As part of its concerted efforts to earn more and more revenue from tourism industry, the government has created the Pakistan Tourism Development Endowment Fund (PTDEF) a few months back and now it is at the execution phase.

“The codal formalities for execution of PTDEF have been completed to make the department move forward with its planned initiatives to boost tourism in the country,” Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Managing Director Syed Intikhab Alam told on Friday.

The tourism department is moving forward briskly to operationalize endowment fund created recently with seed money of Rs1 billion to promote tourism in the country, he added.

The Managing Director said, the proposal for execution of policy and provision of funds would be presented at the next cabinet meeting.

“The rules for implementation of policy have already been finalized by the Finance and Law Division after vetting,” he added.

He said the initiative would formally be launched by the end of this year as the process of fund transfer might take some time.

Intikhab said the seed money of Fund would be invested in various sectors to earn profit to later use it for materializing marketing strategies for promotion of unexplored scenic sites and tourists resorts within the country and abroad.

The fund, principally approved by the government in May, would bring financial sustainability in executing the projects for tourism promotion, he added.

Intikhab said the fund would be utilized for marketing and projection of tourist destinations, besides holding research, studies, events and surveys in tourism industry.

The government, he said, had also constituted the National Tourism Coordination Board (NTCB) to enhance liaison between federation and provinces, besides taking all necessary steps to turn Pakistan into a world class tourist destination.

The managing director said nine thematic working groups established by NTCB were in the process of finalizing their proposals and recommendations to project Pakistan’s culture, heritage and archeology, adventure and eco-tourism potential.

He said the NTCB and the PTDC were jointly working to develop Pakistan’s tourism industry as a customized brand in the World.

The process of hiring the consultants was underway. They would assist the departments in developing the brand for the country’s tourism sector, he added.

To select a name for the brand, Intikhab said surveys and polls were held for the first time.

A well-thought out brand development and promotional campaigns would be rolled out in fiscal year 2019-20, he added.

He said no developmental activity was undertaken by PTDC since 2010, however, this year the government had accommodated PTDC in Federal Public Service Development Programme by allocating Rs200 million.

He said Rs40 million were allocated for conducting feasibility study of Aiwan-e-Sayahat in Islamabad while Rs160 million would be spent on promotion of tourism in the federal capital.

A Buddhist trail, Intikhab said, had also been developed in order to promote religious tourism in Pakistan, he said and added that the country had managed to attract foreign investment of 500 million UK pounds for revamping religious sites of Sikhs.

He said the trail started from Khanpur and culminated at Swat, covering several Buddhist sites, including Julian , Bhamala, Jinnah Wali Dheri, Hund Museum, Rani Ghat, Peshawar Museum, Gor Khatri, Takht Bahi and others.

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Posted on: 2019-10-11T17:03:00+05:00

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