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Tuesday March 19, 2024

September 27 to be observed as World Tourism Day

By APP
September 22, 2018

ISLAMABAD: World Tourism Day will be celebrated across the world including Pakistan on September 27 (Thursday), aimed at fostering awareness in the international community regarding tourism.

World Tourism Day is celebrated around the world in harnessing the power of tourism for growth, development and cultural identity.

The European Council on Tourism and Trade has decided the theme for 2018 tourism year and world tourism day as Tourism: Protecting Culture and Heritage.

Celebrated worldwide, the World Tourism Day at European Council on Tourism and Trade is commemorated usually at the end of September each year and is hosted in the capital of the country, which is crowned as World’s Best Tourist Destination of the Year.

World Tourism Day, celebrated every 27 September around the world, is a unique opportunity to raise awareness on tourism’s actual and potential contribution to sustainable development.

This year’s World Tourism Day (WTD) will help to put the opportunities provided to tourism, by technological advances including big data, artificial intelligence and digital platforms, on the map of sustainable development.

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) sees digital advances and innovation as part of the solution to the challenge of marrying continued growth with a more sustainable and responsible tourism sector.

The UNWTO decided in late September 1979 to institute World Tourism Day, which was first celebrated on September 27, 1980.

September 27 was chosen as the date for World Tourism Day because that date coincided with an important milestone in world tourism: the anniversary of the adoption of the UNWTO Statutes on September 27, 1970.

The UNWTO believes that the date for World Tourism Day is appropriate because it comes at the end of the high tourist season in the northern hemisphere and the start of the tourist season in the southern hemisphere, when tourism is of topical interest to many people worldwide, particularly travelers and those working in the tourism sector.

Pakistan has places ranking in the best of the world not only in the north but also in Lahore, Mohenjo-Daro, Thatta, along coastal line and many more across the country.

From the mighty stretches of the Karakorum’s in the North to the vast alluvial delta of the Indus River in the South, Pakistan remains a land of high adventure and nature.

Trekking, mountaineering, white water rafting, wild boar hunting, mountain and desert jeep safaris, camel and yak safaris, trout fishing and bird watching, are a few activities, which entice the adventure and nature lovers to Pakistan.

The day would be celebrated at all Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Hotels, Motels and its regional offices in all Provincial Headquarters.