Pakistan hoping for know-how from Salzburg

Searching for experts in tourism at the International Tourism Fair in Berlin (ITB), Pakistan’s minister for tourism - Attar-ur-Rehman - recently found what he was looking for at the FH Salzburg booth. "The war-torn tourism industry in Pakistan should be revived; the country not only needs improved infrastructure but also well-educated leaders in the field", states head of degree program Leo Wörndl. Minister Attar-ur-Rehman hopes for an educational cooperation between Pakistan and the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences together with the Salzburg Tourism Schools.
Pakistan has already had good experience in the past with tourism know-how from Salzburg. Since 1965 more than 110 Pakistani students have received an education at the ITH school in Klessheim; some of them have continued on to impressive careers, the best-known graduate being Nilofer Bakhtiar, who was Pakistan’s minister of tourism from 2007 to 2009 and who made a name for herself in particular due to her special commitment to women’s issues.
The two Salzburg institutions mentioned above are currently involved in establishing a tourism school in Bhutan; funding is being provided by the Austrian Development Agency. According to Wörndl, a cooperation with Pakistan might pose difficulties because of the precarious security situation.