ISLAMABAD:
A three-day Tourism Expo and Family Festival 2021' began on Friday in the federal capital, featuring air shows such as paragliding, accuracy landing, wing-suit flying, trike flying, sky diving and power paragliding as part of the Field Marshal Paragliding Championship.
The mega festival is organised by the Pakistan Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (PHPA) in collaboration with Cutting Edge Group.
The event will feature vintage cars and bike roadshows, a horse parade, corporate and educational expos, food stalls, and concerts, a spokesperson said. Besides paragliding, activities for children have also been introduced to attract families to the festival, they added.
Cutting Edge Chief Executive Officer Shahzad Akhtar said there are few places on earth that have been blessed with the wonders of nature. “Islamabad is bestowed with a natural landscape, diverse culture, astounding arts and crafts, luxurious cuisine and extraordinary music that need to be shared with the world,” he expressed.
Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan stated that the government will extend all possible assistance to the Paragliding Association to facilitate the uplifting of adventure tourism in the country. Talking at the inaugural ceremony at the Fatima Jinnah Park, he said the Civil Aviation Authority, being a regulatory body would ensure maximum facilitation to the association in this regard.
The minister invited the association for a meeting to discuss ways and means to bring improvement in the adventure sports sector. He further requested the media to play its role in an effective projection of the mega festival, which would pave the way for holding similar activities in other parts of the country.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said that the tourism sector was being promoted under the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to create new job opportunities in the country. He said that the festival was meant to provide healthy entertainment facilities to the residents of the capital.
He requested them to visit F-9 Park and bring their families to enjoy the multiple activities offered by the organisers. The minister asked the youth to participate in paragliding arranged at the event, adding that national and foreign delegates were participating in the festival as well.
Faraz further urged the media to provide due coverage to the event as it would help promote the country's sports and culinary delights.
Also present at the occasion, Minister for Energy Omar Ayub said, "Pakistan will be made into a tourism-magnet to get the attention of world adventurers". He mentioned that these air shows are being arranged in collaboration with the Armed Forces wherein civilian paragliders and skydivers would also be participating.
Ayub said similar events would be arranged in other parts of the country and mentioned that a suitable site for paragliding and skydiving activities is being identified in Gwadar.
Moreover, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Syed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari invited the masses to visit the tourism festival with their families as family recreation was the base of tourism in the country. APP
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