Serena honoured as country’s leading hotel

ISLAMABAD: Aziz Boolani, the chief executive officer of the Serena Hotels (South and Central Asia), was honoured at the World Travel Awards as the Islamabad Serena Hotel was declared Pakistan's leading hotel for 2017 and its presidential suite the country's leading hotel suite for the year.

The Kabul Serena Hotel was awarded Afghanistan's leading hotel and Dushanbe Serena Hotel Tajikistan's for the fourth year in a row at the World Travel Awards Asia & Australasia Gala Ceremony 2017, which was held at Grand Kempinski Hotel Shanghai in China.

The World Travel Awards is voted for by travel and tourism professionals worldwide. It recognises the commitment to excellence demonstrated by organisations in each preceding year.

The World Travel Awards is the most prestigious, comprehensive and sought-after awards programme in the global travel and tourism industry. The awards this year were presented before an invited audience of the industry's leading luminaries and international media.

The Tourism Promotion Services – Pakistan, a subsidiary company of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, owns and manages eight hotels across Pakistan of which Islamabad Serena Hotel is the flagship property. The AKFED seeks to develop tourism potential in selected areas in the developing world, by building, rehabilitating and managing hotels and lodges that contribute to economic growth and positively impact the overall investment climate in an environmental and culturally sensitive manner.

According to Aziz Boolani, since its inception, the Serena has stressed on cultural and environmental sensitivity for which it has received global recognition through a number of awards. Globally, the travel and tourism industry makes a real difference to the lives of millions of people by driving growth, creating jobs, reducing poverty and fostering development and tolerance.

"The contribution of the industry to global GDP is over 10 per cent but in Pakistan, it is below three per cent. The potential for growth is immense. The Serena Hotels is taking various steps to expand the scale and depth of tourism in Pakistan."

The World Travel Awards celebrates its 24th anniversary this year and is acknowledged across the globe as the ultimate travel accolade. Attended by senior executives from major travel companies, hotel owners, operators, destinations, WTA events are universally respected as providing established, top level networking opportunities, regionally and globally.