Travel Responsibly for Experiencing Ecotourism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’ (TREK) – is a collaboration between KP govt, World Bank & Nestlé to promote responsible tourism for a waste-free future
ISLAMABAD
Nestlé Pakistan, in collaboration with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s tourism department launched the TREK communication campaign in Nathiagali to promote responsible tourism for in the region.
Earlier in December 2020, Prime Minister Imran Khan had unveiled the logo for TREK, which is part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Integrated Tourism Development (KITE) project and has been listed amongst the federal government’s key achievements of 2020.
Addressing the participants, Samer Chedid, CEO Nestlé Pakistan said, “At Nestlé, our vision is that none of our packaging, including plastics, ends up in landfill or rivers. To achieve this, we have set ourselves the commitment of ensuring 100% of our packaging is reusable or recyclable by 2025.”
“We are excited for this partnership on responsible tourism: we will be shaping a waste-free future by driving new behavior that contribute towards a cleaner environment.”
Tauseef Khalid, Project Director, KITE said, “TREK is an initiative under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Integrated Tourism Development (KITE) project being implemented in partnership with the World Bank Group and Nestlé Pakistan.”
“Activities withinTREK include provision of solid waste management equipment, awareness campaigns for tourists, that will be launched, installation of information boards and training of local communities on waste minimization and collection, apart from provision of restrooms for tourists’ facilitation under KITE,” he said.
Kiran Afzal, Senior Private Sector Specialist, of the World Bank Group conveyed that the occasion marks an important phase of TREK’s implementation, and “we expect to see more contributions from the private sector towards responsible tourism.”
Nestlé Pakistan’s commitment to TREK includes 2 pillars: A Massive Awareness
Campaign focusing on Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and a Community Engagement plan which includes activities that will help in countering the issues of waste, pollution and destruction of wildlife.
The partners highlighted the role of tourism in job creation and appreciated the government’s efforts for facilitating tourists by improving accessibility through roads, rescue services and planning of tourism zones.