Advisor to CM reviews three year progress of tourism dept

LAHORE: Advisor to Chief Minister on Tourism Asif Mehmood on Tuesday chaired a meeting to review three year progress of the Tourism Department. Secretary Tourism Capt (r) Mushtaq Ahmed, Additional Secretary Kalsoom Saqib, DG Archaeology Ilyas Gill, MD TDCP Tanveer Jabbar, DS Planning Waqas Ahmed and others attended the meeting. During the meeting, the TDCP MD and DG Archaeology gave the briefing. The TDCP MD briefed about the steps taken as per vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan for the development of tourism in Punjab. The DG Archaeology informed that Archaeological Directorate had completed about 13 schemes in three years which had been pending for the last 10 years. The advisor was also briefed upon Punjab’s first tourism policy, establishment of tourism department and formation of Tourism Squad in Punjab. He was informed that online portal of DTS had been activated and Punjab Tourism Application has been made operational. Regarding the provision of facilities to tourists, the advisor was informed about steps to promote religious tourism in Taxila, along with restoration of Bhai Karam Singh Gurdwara, Afghana Mosque, Rohtas Fort, Suri Gallery and others. The officials also briefed about completion of work on projects at Tilla Joggiyan, Nandana Fort, Malot Temple, Khewra Salt Mines, Takht-e-Babri and Kallar Kahar. The TDCP official briefed about new routes of sightseeing bus which were launched in Rawalpindi and Bahawalpur. Apart from that, the department has also initiated training programme of 3, 000 students for tourism marketing, the official informed. Asif Mehmood said that revolutionary steps had been taken to promote tourism in Punjab. In the past, no attention was paid to the tourism sector he said and added the World Bank’s tourism project was also helping to develop the tourism sector. Seasonal tourism was also under great consideration by the department for destination sites as Punjab had immense potential in tourism sector. The advisor directed the departments to fully maintain the archaeological and tourist sites so that tourists may be facilitated properly.