KARACHI: Held on Thursday 4th October and attracting an enviable guest list of both national and International exhibitors of PTM, seniors of airline, travel and hotel industry, government officials and active members of the tourism Industry. The gala dinner marked a celebratory conclusion of Pakistan Travel Mart 2018, which can easily be deemed as one of, if not the most successful travel and tourism exhibition in Pakistan.
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Tourism Ministers of Punjab Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfraz, tourism Minister of Gilgit –Baltistan Fida Muhammad and Senior Minister Muhammad Atif Khan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with Governor Sindh Imran Ismail graced the event.
PTM aims to stimulate both domestic and international tourism markets in order to attract more visitors. The surrounding countries of Pakistan have also been highly supportive, delegations and exhibitors from 15 foreign countries attended and participated in different capacity including Thailand, Malaysia, UAE, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Azerbaijan and many other countries.
On the night of the gala, a festive celebration was showcased to all the honorable attendees, with troupes from Malaysia and Thailand who entertained guests with their different artistic forms of dances. From Pakistan Gilgit – Baltistan & Khyber Pakhtunkhwa displayed their culture through traditional dances and classical and semi classical singing.
Captivating documentaries about the respective provinces of Pakistan and other participant countries were also shown which gave the guests a perspective about their lifestyle, popular tourist destinations as well as their cultures.
The organizers of the Mart as well as a few other chief guests made their speeches about the Travel Mart. The memorable evening came to an end with an exceptional buffet dinner. The chief organizer of the Expo Mr. Ali Hamdani, CEO Landmark Communications thanked all the local and international participants for their support for the success of of PTM 2018 and announced that next year PTM will take place on 18th-20th October 2019.
While addressing the gathering Mr. Rafiq Khan said that his dream of yesterday is a reality of today as PTM has emerged as a major tourism Brand of Pakistan.
“It is my desire that fruits of better tourism should and must be share with the poor people of rural areas by increasing their participation in small small projects of tourism” he added.
Senior Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Atif Khan in his short speech congratulated Mr. Hamdani and his team for putting up good tourism show and said that tangible steps were being taken to make tourism a revenue-generating sector and improve the socio-economic condition of the people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that KPK is going to have Tourism development authority soon.
Governor Sindh, Imran Ismail, Punjab Tourism Minister Raja Yasir Hamayun Sarfraz, Minister for Tourism Gilgit Baltistan, Fida Khan, General Manager Brand PIA, Mr. Abdullah Hafeez Khan, Country Manger Qatar airways Mr. Ahmed Mir and Ms. Lashley A. Pulsipher, Chief Marketing Sales and Revenue Officer Hashoo Hotels also spoke on the occasions and highlighted the importance of tourism for the socio-economic uplift of Pakistan.
