LAHORE, April 20: Amidst a lot of gaiety and fun, the two-day Lahore International Tourism Expo kicked off on Saturday at the Expo Centre, Johar Town.

The event inaugurated by Minister for Tourism Saleema Hashmi is being held in collaboration with Lahore International Expo. The activity is aimed at providing a platform to tourist-related industry and the potential clients to interact with each other.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister lauded the efforts of TDCP and said through such ventures tourism could be given a great impetus. Ms Hashmi also admired TDCP for inviting other provinces to the event to make it richer and vibrant.

The minister was of the view that there should be a federal authority to look after the affairs of tourism in the collective sense and it should be a supervising body for all the provinces. She said faith-based tourism also had its importance.

Iranian Cultural Center Director Dr Abbas Famoori said Pakistan had a rich heritage of tourism but it was not promoted the way it should have been projected. He said Pakistani tourism was rich and it should be introduced internationally.

Syed Muhammad Ali, GM (Events) TDCP from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, came up with a few suggestions that all provinces should sit together and make a five-year plan to promote tourism industry.

He said there should be a ‘forum of friends’ in each province for the support and promotion of tourism.

Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Secretary Sajjad Saleem Hotiana presented an informative paper on the current situation and resources of Baltistan.

Managing Director TDCP Habibur Rehman Gilani said the expo would be a regular feature every year now.

There were some 100 or stalls representing government and non-government sectors. The stalls included that of jewellery and handicrafts. Iranian Cultural Center has also set up its stall. There were stalls by hotels, airlines, travel agents, tour operators, transport companies and tourism clubs as well. A German stuntman biker Chris Pfeiffer is also coming to the event and will show his acrobats on Sunday (today) at the event.