Exhibition of art, photos kicks off on Tourism Day

Islamabad:As many as 322 photographs and around 100 paintings were submitted by established and amateur photographers and painters from across the country in the Photography and Painting competition that was displayed at Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) here Monday.

The competition was organised by Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) to celebrate International Tourism Day 2022. The themes for the competitions included ‘Tourist Attractions of Pakistan, Landscapes, Culture and Life, Adventure Sports and Flora & Fauna.’ While the painting competition was in two age categories including youth and kid competitions.

The final paintings and photographs were showcased to encourage the talent of the participants while Advisor to Prime Minister, Awn Chaudry inaugurated the show and termed the works as great effort by the young and budding artists to create awareness among the general public about the importance of tourism, environment related issues and promotion sustainable and responsible tourism.

Managing Director, PTD­C, Aftab ur Rehman Rana, on the occasion said the purpose of this competition was to engage the youth in healthy activities side by side educating them on tourism related activities and celebrate the World Tourism Day. World Tourism Day was designated by the World Touri­sm Organisation (UNWTO) in September 1979, with the commemoration to commence in 1980.

This date was chosen to coincide with an important milestone in world tourism: the anniversary of the adoption of the UNWTO Statutes on 27 September 1970. The theme for this year is ‘Rethinking Tourism’.

The exhibition was followed by two day National Conference in which experts and representatives of provincial, federal governments and related departments discussed topics like removing bottlenecks to promote foreign tourism in Pakistan, recovery of tourism after floods and widespread rains, issues and challenges of mountaineering and trekking tourism in Pakistan, tourism development and promotion in Islamabad Capital territory, Initiatives of provincial tourism departments for the development and promotion of Tourism.