PESHAWAR: The motorcycle rally arranged by the Tourism Corporation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to mark the International Mountain Day reached the recently-introduced tourist attraction – Gabeen Jabba, Swat – on Tuesday.

The tourists and bike-riders had started their journey from Peshawar and reached Takht Bhai where they visited the Buddhist ruins on Friday. During stay at the Takh Bhai Buddhist complex, the riders visited various sections in complex and later left for Swat, according to a press release issued here on Tuesday.

Club 46 head Mani Iftikhar led the caravan of bike-riders to highlight the importance of mountains in the promotion of tourism.

The bikers after visiting camping pods in Bashigram left for Gabeen Jabba.

The bikers stayed at Gabeen Jabba for some time and later returned to Swat Public School in Mingora to attend a function held in connection with the World Mountain Day.

Speaking at the function, TCKP general manager (admin & properties) Sajjad Hameed said organising the rally was meant to raise awareness about the importance of mountains in promotion of tourism and clean environment.

He said TCKP had taken a number of steps for promotion of tourism in the province. He said several new tourist places had been identified, which would be developed along modern lines to lure more tourists to KP.

He said there were over 6,000 archaeological, heritage and new tourist sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where research was being carried out to revive them properly.

Other speakers urged the audience to avoid littering scenic spots when they visited them.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2018