KARACHI: Held in the city of lights, a colossal tourism expo, 2nd Pakistan Travel Mart (PTM) ended on Thursday, 4th October, 2018. The mart consisted of over 300 notable national and international brands of travel, airlines, hotels & tourism industry who exhibited their travel and tourism products under one roof.
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Hashoo group with unflinching faith in Pakistan Tourism Industry played a prominent role in the success of 2nd PTM by being the Hospitality partner of the Mart.
Holiday Weekly, this year also proactively participated in the Expo.
Mr. Sardar Ali Shah, Sindh Minister for Culture, Tourism, Antiquities and Archives inaugurated the exhibition and congratulated the organiseres and appreciated their determination and efforts for making PTM a national tourism brand of Pakistan.
“Not every dream becomes a reality but Pakistan Travel Mart was a dream that became a far better and superior reality”
This was said by Syed Muhammad Ali Hamdani, CEO, Pakistan Travel Mart while talking to Holiday Weekly at the occasion of third day ribbon cutting ceremony.
Senior Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad, Mr. Atif Khan who is also tourism minister by his choice performed 2nd day inaugural ribbon cutting ceremony whereas on 3rd October proceedings of the exhibition were started after ribbon cutting ceremony, performed by Punjab Tourism Minister Raja Yasir Hamayun Sarfraz.
2nd Pakistan Travel Market (PTM) remained highly successful to bring together all the major stakeholders of travel, tourism, aviation and hospitality sector at one platform for one point agenda of promotion of tourism in Pakistan.
PTM was also successful in bringing opportunities, content and digital tools, to support the growth of the national travel industry by facilitating new connections and lasting business relationships, and by applying global network and expertise to local markets. Everyone who attended the Mart was highly impressed by the displays leaving both local, and foreigners surprised that Pakistan had so much to offer tourism wise.
The event got the patronage and support of all provincial governments in a way that tourism ministers & secretaries of all provinces of Pakistan including Gilgit-Baltistan spared their time and not only attended the event but also participated in different discussions related to tourism.
An eminent keynote session of Pakistan Hospitality conference was held on the side line of PTM where Mr. Byram D. Avari, Chairman Avari Hotels, Mr. Haseeb A. Gardezi, Chief Operating Officer Hashoo Hotels and Mr. Aziz Bolani, Chief Executive Officer South Asia & Central Asia Serena Hotels along with Senior Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad, Mr. Atif Khan discussed in detail the different aspects and concerns of the hospitality sector, overall challenges and opportunities for investment in the industry. With improved domestic tourism in Pakistan, the hotel industry is also growing at a steady pace and witnessing growth in the occupancy rates. The growing investments are expected to augment the growth of the hotel industry in Pakistan further and the role of the government to provide amenities and other basic infrastructure. The impsct of CPEC on our tourism and hotel industry was also discussed.
“The event turned out to be better than what I was expecting, “ said Atif Khan.
The tourism ministers of Gilgit –Baltistan, Punjab and Senior Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa congratulated Mr. Mohammad Ali Hamdani and his teams for taking such an excellent initiative to give such strong push to Pakistan tourism industry. they also congratulated Sardar Rafiq and paid rich tribute to him for the services he is rendering to Travel and tourism industry of Pakistan.
The Mart attracted a large number of tourists and visitors including foreigners. A conference titled “Travel bloggers & Impact of social Media” was oraganised at the Travel Mart which was addressed by Sindh Minister for Culture and Tourism Syed Sardar Ali Shah, Punjab Minister for Education and Tourism Raja Yasir H. Sarfaraz, Gilgit-Baltistan Minister for Tourism Fida Khan, Senior Minister Muhammad Atif Khan, who also has the portfolio of Sports, Tourism, Archaeology, Culture, Museums and Youth Affairs.
