RAWALPINDI, July 17: Ministry of tourism and culture has decided to run 10 of the 29 PTDC motels itself, which were earlier included in the final list of 29 and forwarded to the Privatisation Commission for sale.

Some 10 profit-making units have been withdrawn from the final list already sent to the PC.

The decision in this regard was taken in the 74th meeting of the board of governors of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation met at a local hotel here on Thursday.

The meeting was attended by Secretary Tourism Shahzad Qaiser, managing director, PTDC, Brig Manuela, chief secretaries of all the four provinces and Azad Kashmir.

The minister addressing the meeting said that the government would ensure utilising all available resources for the promotion of international standard tourism in the country.

Raja Pervez Ashraf said tourism had emerged as a big industry in the world saying there was a dire need to promote and develop tourism sector in the country to provide the local and foreign tourists the best facilities and protection, he added.

He said despite the fact that the security situation in Nepal and Sri Lanka was not so good, but even then the tourism in these countries was on the rise and flourishing.—APP