MONTERAL: The main trade association of global airlines ended 2019 with pledges to address two of the biggest issues facing the industry: the glaring shortage of women in leading positions and the growing “flight-shaming” movement. The International Air Travel Association (IATA), which has around 290 member airlines, acknowledged it needs to communicate better with the general public on commitments it made years ago to reduce carbon emissions amid escalating concerns about global warming. The trade body also started a campaign to address the gender imbalance in civil aviation by increasing the number of women in senior leadership roles. “There’s massive…
Author: holidayweekly
ISLAMABAD: Serena Hotels hosted the closing ceremony of the 5th edition of the Pakistan International Mountain Film Festival (PIMFF) in Kehkeshan Hall, Islamabad Serena Hotel. The chief guest on the occasion was Ms. Midhat Shahzad, Secretary to the AJK Government for Information, Tourism and IT, who carries the distinction of being first female secretary to the Government in AJK. Mr. Wajahat Malik, founder of PIMFF welcomed the guests to the ceremony. “The Last Mountain” was one of the most extraordinary films in the programme, a feature length Polish film about the winter expedition that took place in 2018. PIMFF screens…
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistan is a land of unimaginable beauty, hidden natural wonders and untapped tourism potential. He said this on Sunday in a Twitter message which came after a travel magazine, Wanderlust, listed nine destinations of Pakistan for adventurers in 2020, from the magical Himalayan valleys to lunar landscapes of bubbling mud volcanoes. The magazine described the 2020 hot list destinations in Pakistan that offer diversity of extraordinary natural beauty without crowds. Wanderlust lists from world’s longest Baltoro Glacier, stretching 63km, to 800-metre tall Trango Towers, world’s highest Deosai plateau, Hunza Valley and Attabad…
SOUTHLAKE-TEXAS: Sabre Corporation, the leading software and technology company that powers the global travel industry, issued a statement regarding its relationship with Air India. The following is for attribution to Kristin Hays, Vice President – global communications for Sabre: “After a successful 20-year relationship, Air India has decided to discontinue distributing its content through the Sabre GDS. Consequently, Air India content is no longer available to Sabre-connected travel agencies, effective today. “We are very disappointed that Air India decided to withdraw from Sabre. We believe that access to Sabre’s global network of travel agencies provides great value to Air India.…
ABU DHABI: Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has announced that UAE residents can enter the country for a period not exceeding 30 days without a pre-entry visa, reported Emirati news agency Wam. The decision, which will come into effect from January 1, 2020, was announced through a related decree signed by President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The decision stipulates that it is necessary to present a residency permit valid for at least 90 days upon entering Uzbekistan, said the Wam report. Uzbekistan had earlier in March exempted UAE citizens holding diplomatic, private, and ordinary passports from requiring…
WRITTEN BY CH. FAISAL MAHMOOD The snowfall marks the Beginning of the winter tourism season in the country. Tourism related concerns are expecting to do some good business, especially those in northern area and Kashmir including Swat, as they had some bad years in the past business wise; if not to list up other damages of terrorism in the heavenly snowcapped, our Northern Areas. Now once again, with the grace of Almighty Allah the region is fully peaceful and safe and is open for tourists. It would be much better for the region if domestic tourists give extra importance to…
GUIZHOU: A new mega bridge, part of the Pingtang-Luodian Expressway, has opened in Guizhou province, south-west China. Both the Ziyun-Wangmo and Pingtang-Luodian expressways opened to traffic earlier, reducing travel time between Ziyun and Wangmo to 50 minutes and that between Pingtang and Luodian to an hour. The two expressways are expected to help boost tourism and improve the lives of local residents. The construction of the cable-supported viaduct started in April 2016 with a total investment of 1.5 billion yuan (215 million U.S. dollars). Guizhou used to be one of China’s most isolated regions. Nowadays, it is known as the…
LAHORE: Tourism and Development Corporation of Punjab (TDCP) on Thursday, January 2, formally inaugurated the All Punjab One Bike Club to promote biking tourism. According to TDCP sources here, the club would provide one platform to young and vintage bikers and this would also help them in visiting beautiful tourist places across the Punjab on bikes to promote these tourist spots. Sources said the TDCP was committed in providing people best tourism opportunities.
KARACHI: In a rare occurrence, fishermen trained by the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan) have spotted three specimens of blanket octopus from different locations along the Sindh and Balochistan coast this week. According to a statement issued by the WWF-Pakistan, a 0.8-metre-long blanket octopus was spotted by Saeed Badshah from offshore waters of Balochistan on Saturday, December 7. This was the first live authentic report of this octopus species from the Pakistani waters, the statement added. While fishing 45 nautical miles south of Ormara, the fishermen caught the octopus in their gill net. Considering it a new and rare…
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday, December 31 stopped the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik from performing his functions as the airline’s chief executive officer. A petition challenging Malik’s appointment as the CEO by Safdar Anjum, the general secretary of the airline’s Senior Staff Association (SASA) was filed at the high court. The petition stated Malik did not fulfill the educational requirements of the post neither did he have any relevant experience for the job. During proceedings of the case, the two-member bench issued directives to stop the PIA CEO from performing his functions.…