CHITRAL: National Tourism Coordination Board chairman and PM’s special assistant on overseas Pakistanis, Zulfi Bukhari, said on Wednesday that foreign direct investment (FDI) under the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had increased by 206 per cent, which showed confidence posed by the foreign-based investors in the leadership of Imran Khan.

Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of the first five-star hotel ‘BeJaan’ in Chitral, he said that investment of billions of rupees in the hotel project in Chitral was an example of FDI in the tourism sector.

He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had given great importance to the tourism sector, which was evident from the fact that he had kept its portfolio himself.

Mr Bukhari said that the PTI government had initiated a number of reforms in tourism sector like establishing integrated tourism zones (ITZs) in the provinces where all allied facilities were provided to the tourists.

He said that one of the ITZs had been approved for Chitral under which 70-kilometre road would be constructed for Madak Lusht valley. He said that the tourism sector was being linked to an information system under which a tourist would find information about an area made available in a single portal.

He said that promotion of tourism sector meant giving employment opportunities to thousnads of people directly or indirectly. About naming of the hotel as BeJaan, he said its owner Anwar Aman had done the same what his boss Imran Khan did while naming the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital.

Anwar Aman said though he had a well-established business in the US, he decided for the hotel project in Chitral to promote tourism, culture and heritage of his area.

Later, Mr Bukhari formally performed the groundbreaking of the hotel project.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2020