Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) chairman Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari on Sunday called for fired PTDC staff to accept the government's announced $ 1.3 billion aid package.
We offered PTDC employees a nice golden handshake, but unfortunately they declined the offer at the request of union leaders, preventing them from accepting the package for their own interests," he said at a news conference in Islamabad.
Zulfikar Bukhari, who also holds the portfolio of the President of the National Tourism Coordination Board (NTCB) and the special assistant to the Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistan and Staff Development, said management had attempted to negotiate with union representatives on the instructions of the PTDC board. Union moved the court against the decision.
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He announced that the package consists of three continuous basic salaries for the entire duration of the service, a pension fund, salary arrears and allowances for six months and a year's leave.
The president called on the fired workers to accept the offer and to call it the largest gold handshake package in the country's history.
"PTDC has not fired its staff due to the coronavirus pandemic," he said.
Zulfikar Bukhari dismissed rumors that the PTDC would stop working. "The organization has been lost for many years due to the outdated business model, illegal agreements and tedious approach from previous governments," he added.
He said the decision to restructure the PTDC was made by the federal cabinet to transform it into a vibrant and profitable organization and to create additional jobs through effective tourism promotion in Pakistan and worldwide.
"The restructuring of PTDC is intended to move the model from one operator to one manufacturer and regulator," he noted.
Zulfikar Bukhari said that after the restructuring, PTDC would act as the implementing arm of the NTCB, which was set up by the government to develop coordination between the federal entities. "Tourism is a distributed issue, so strong coordination between the provinces is important for strengthening the sector," he added.
He said that a top adviser was hired to carry out the restructuring of the PTDC, which had helped the organization formulate the associated policy.
He said a 10-year roadmap (2020-2030) has been drawn up to strengthen the tourism industry and ensure that its massive resources are maximized for sustainable economic growth, poverty reduction and social inequality reduction.
He added that a five-year action plan will be finalized to implement the government's tourism promotion plan.
He said the government would soon launch "Brand Pakistan" to promote the tourism industry as a tailor-made brand. An e-portal has also been created to inform tourists about hotel reviews, weather, traffic and other information.
Zulfikar Bukhari said that all initiatives are ready and will be implemented after the Covid 10 pandemic is brought under control. He announced the creation of a fund to support tourism with a starting capital of 1 billion rupees.
He said the country will host the World Tourism Forum in 2021, while the D-8 summit will also take place in Pakistan in 2022. He said tourism ministers in the D-8 member states had expressed their willingness to attend the three-day conference.
