World Tourism Day celebrated

Islamabad : Pakistan is abundant with tourism sites — sky-kissing mountains, winding lakes, awe-inspiring deserts, mighty rivers and lovely beaches — we only need to protect and project them to the world.

Award-winning photographer and renowned tourist Syed Javaid A Kazi said this while speaking at a ceremony organized by the Pakistan Youth Hostels Association to mark the World Tourism Day here on Thursday.

This year’s theme of World Tourism Day is “Tourism and the Digital Transformation.” One could see a large number of youths, travelers and adventurers, environmentalists attending the ceremony.

Javaid Kazi gave a presentation of his pictorial work on the occasion showing some of the mind-blowing photos he took during his travels right from the rooftop of the world K-2, Deosai and Nanga Parbat peaks to the beaches of Gwadar.

Pakistan, he said was the only country where eight peaks of over 8,000 metres are situated.

Our northern areas have the potential to attract a large number of tourists from across the world but we only need to capitalize this treasure and build up an infrastructure that guarantees access, security and facilities to the visiting tourists, said Kazi.

Kazi told the audience that in the past, during his travels in Swat and Kalam he often came across Prime Minister Imran Khan hiking the peaks and enjoying the scenes.