RAWALPINDI, Feb 19: Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) on Thursday reopened its tourist facilitation centre (TFC) in Abbottabad for the promotion of tourism in the earthquake-affected areas.

The TFC in Abbottabad has been completely renovated and upgraded with the matching grant of US Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Improving Livelihoods and Enterprise Development (I-LED) programme.

According to PTDC, the centre has set an example of fostering public-private partnerships to restore tourism-linked livelihoods in the earthquake-devastated areas of Kaghan Valley.

The upgradation of the centre was made possible as a result of a joint project funded by the USAID and the PTDC. The support for I-LED Programme is part of USAID’s four-year earthquake reconstruction programme costing $200 million. The I-LED programme is aimed at building hundreds of schools and health facilities, supporting better health and education services and improving economic activity in the earthquake-affected areas of NWFP and Azad Kashmir.

PTDC Managing Director Brig (retd) Amanullah Khan who jointly inaugurated the centre together with the programme director of I-LED, Mark Treacy, said that the TFC is fully equipped with latest multi-media and fixtures for the convenience of tourists transiting to the Kaghan Valley from all over Pakistan.

PTDC has already started a daily bus service to Kaghan from Rawalpindi, while PTDC motels are operational in the valley to facilitate tourists, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Treacy said that USAID’s I-LED programme was helping the tourism sector by providing training facilities to the local community for the promotion of tourism. I-LED has supported renovation and upgrading of hotels in the valley, and so far nine hotels have been upgraded in Kaghan, Naran and Shogran.

A photographic exhibition themed “Journey through Kaghan Valley” was organised to coincide with the opening of the TFC depicting Balakot, Shogran and Kaghan Valley.