A view of jeeps lined up at the starting point of a jeep rally from Bab-e-Khyber to Swabi to celebrate World Tourism Day Week organised by K-P Tourism Corporation. PHOTO: APP
The rally, held to mark World Tourism Day, set off from Bab-e-Khyber to Swabi as part of its first leg on Wednesday. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Tourism Corporation (TCKP) Managing Director Mushtaq Ahmad Khan and Frontier 4x4 Club President Babar Khan saw off the 70 jeeps as they headed to Swabi for the first leg of the rally. In the second leg, they will travel to Peshawar.
After traversing the rugged Khyber tribal district, the jeeps headed to Swabi via Nowshera, Jehangira and other towns located along the Grand Trunk Road.
With the theme of this year’s World Tourism Day set as “tourism and the digital transformation,” Mushtaq pointed to the management information system (MIS) which the provincial government was developing to help tourists.
“The MIS is of paramount importance as it will easily facilitate tourists to learn more about the routes, scenic spots, rest-houses and other necessary information all available via an online application which can be accessed on their mobile phones,” he explained.
Noting that they were working on launching the application on a war-footing basis to facilitate tourists, he said that it will contain data about bookings, all tour operators, hotels, restaurants, resorts, lakes, weather conditions, cultures of various districts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
Mushtaq added that they had taken tangible steps to boost archaeological, adventure, religious and cultural tourism.
Engaging local communities termed necessary
“Over 75 per cent of all tourist destinations, archaeological and heritage sites and Buddhist ruins of the country were located in K-P and the followers of Buddhism and adventure tourism enthusiasts could be attracted to the province through publicity of the new app and website,” he added.
To enhance the experience of tourists visiting the country, he said that they were working on increasing the capacity of registered tour operators through workshops and training.
Detailing measures undertaken to boost tourism, Mushtaq said that TCKP had already kicked off a tourism week with water rafting activity for women entrepreneurs of the province in the scenic Kunhar River.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2018.
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