Mr. Aftab-ur-Rehman Rana is the CEO and President of Sustainable Tourism Foundation. He is professionally associated with tourism industry since 1988. He is a well-known figure in tourism industry especially due to his pioneering efforts for the promotion of sustainable tourism, ecotourism and youth tourism and adventure tourism in Pakistan. He has extensively traveled throughout the country and abroad and has vast experience of tourism product development, destination development, tourism human resource development, tourism planning, policy formulation, marketing and promotion.
Mr. Rana has done Executive MBA in Tourism and Hotel Management and has attended number of national and international training courses on Tourism Management, Ecotourism, Adventure Tourism and sustainable development of tourism. He has also completed two years comprehensive training program of LEAD International on leadership for environment and sustainable development and is now a Fellow of LEAD International.
He as also worked as a consultant with USAID, ADB and World Bank for tourism projects in different provinces of Pakistan. He is the founder of sustainable tourism movement in Pakistan and a pioneer of ecotourism in Pakistan. He has also participated in number of national and international conferences as a guest speaker and panelist.
Mr. Rana has also vast experience of policy planning in tourism sector. He has also worked with the government of KP, Punjab and Gilgit Baltistan to develop regional tourism policies and frameworks for the public-private partnership in tourism sector. He has also conducted assessment of Makran Coast for the development of community based Maritime Ecotourism.
He writes regularly on touristic places of Pakistan and about issues of tourism industry. His articles on tourism have published in leading newspapers and tourism magazines. He is author of three travel guide books.
He has received number of awards including Commonwealth Asia Award for Excellence in Youth Work, the Trainer of the Year Award from the South Asia Tourism Human Resource Development Project (SATHRDP), Government of Pakistan’s Better Pakistan-2010 Excellence Award in the field of Tourism Promotion, Pride of Mountains Award for the promotion of Sustainable Tourism. He is also a member of Member of National Tourism Coordination Board, Member of Board of Directors of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation Pakistan and Vice President of Adventure Foundation Pakistan.
