Pakistan Public Holidays 2019

Date	Day	Holiday
5 Feb	Tue	Kashmir Day
23 Mar	Sat	Pakistan Day
22 Apr	Mon	Easter Monday *
1 May	Wed	Labour Day
5 Jun	Wed	Eid ul-Fitr
6 Jun	Thu	Eid ul-Fitr Holiday
7 Jun	Fri	Eid ul-Fitr Holiday
12 Aug	Mon	Eid ul-Azha
13 Aug	Tue	Eid ul-Azha Holiday
14 Aug	Wed	Independence Day
9 Sep	Mon	Ashura
10 Sep	Tue	Ashura
10 Nov	Sun	Milad un-Nabi
25 Dec	Wed	Christmas Day *
25 Dec	Wed	Quiad-e-Azam Day
26 Dec	Thu	Day after Christmas *
Note: The Easter and Christmas holidays are observed by Christians only.

UAE Holidays 2019

January 1 – New Year’s Day

New Year’s Day on January 1 celebrates the dawn of the new Gregorian year. The UAE joins the global party with fireworks, parades, and parties. Every year, the Burj Khalifa is the centerpiece for one of the greatest firework displays in the world.

In 2019, New Year’s Day falls on a Tuesday, so it won't be a long weekend unless you already are on holiday that week.

April 3 – Al Isra'a Wal Mi’raj – Ascension Day

Al Isra'a Wal Mi’raj is an Islamic holiday, which is observed annually on the 27th day of the Islamic month of Rajab (falls on April 3 in 2019), according to the Hijri calendar. The holiday marks the night Allah took Mohammad (PBUH) on a journey from Makkah to Jerusalem, and then to heaven. The journey was made in a single night, hence the name.

In 2019 the holiday falls on Wednesday, April 3. You might get a public holiday on Thursday (April 4) to combine with the weekend - which has been done before - when the Ministry confirms the dates.  

June 4/5 – Eid Al Fitr

Roughly translated, Eid Al Fitr means “festival of breaking the fast”. The holiday is a celebration which marks the end of Ramadan (which is forecast to be on June 3 or 4). Once confirmed, residents may get two days off based on when it falls during the week.

Eid Al Fitr begins automatically after the last day of Ramadan, on the first day of Shawwal. In 2019, the end of Ramadan could be June 4 (Tuesday) or 5 (Wednesday), which will be confirmed closer to the date based on the moon-sighting.

August 10 – Arafat Day

Arafat Day is the second day of the annual haj (or pilgrimage). The holiday takes place the day before the start of Eid Al Adha. At dawn, Muslim pilgrims make their way from Mina to a nearby hillside called Mount Arafat and a plain called the Plain of Arafat.

In 2019 Arafat Day is predicted to fall on a Saturday (August 10). However, the date is subject to moon-sighting and could change.

August 11 – Eid Al Adha

Eid Al Adha translates to the “festival of sacrifice”. The holiday honours Ibrahim and his willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail for Allah. Ismail is happy to oblige before Allah sends his angel, Jibra’il, to inform Ibrahim that he has already accepted the sacrifice from his heart.

Goats are sacrificed and divided into three parts: one part for the family, one part for relatives, and one part for the poor. The holiday begins on the 10th day of Dhu Al Hijja – the last month of the Hijri calendar.

In 2019, Eid Al Adha is expected to begin on Sunday, August 11. A three-day holiday for Eid Al Adha, including Arafat Day on Saturday, could mean a long weekend in August.

September 1 – Al Hijri – Islamic New Year

Al Hijri is the Islamic New Year. This year, the date expected for this observation is Sunday, September 1 in 2019. This would mean a possible long weekend, if you have Saturdays off.

The date is subject to moon-sighting and could change.

November 9 – Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) Birthday

The birthday of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is celebrated on the 12th day of Rabi Al Awwal, which falls on November 9 in 2019. The holiday is referred to as Milad Al Nabi.

In 2019, the Islamic date corresponds to November 9, Saturday. The date is subject to moon-sighting and could change.

November 30 – Commemoration Day

Commemoration Day (sometimes referred to as Martyr’s Day) is a public holiday on November 30. The day was declared by His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, in 2015 to honour Emiratis who have died for their country.

The remembrance will fall on a Saturday in 2019.

December 2 – UAE National Day

The UAE’s National Day is fixed on December 2 each year. Although the UAE – or the Trucial States as it was known until 1971 – was never part of the British Empire, it was a British Protectorate. The protectorate treaty was withdrawn on December 1, 1971, paving the way for the federal unification of the Trucial States.

Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, and Fujairah made up the original UAE, with Ras Al Khaimah joining in a year later in 1972. 2019 will be the UAE’s 48th birthday.

One or two days are granted as public holidays, and as December 2 is a Monday, we could enjoy a long weekend.

All of these holidays are subject to change.

Rural Tourism

Introduction

Rural America is a popular tourist destination. According to a recent study, nearly two-thirds of all adults in the Nation, or 87 million individuals, have taken a trip to a rural destination within the past three years (Travel Industry Association of America, 2001a). Almost nine out of ten of these trips were for leisure purposes. Overall, the travel industry is big business in America.
Travel expenditures within the U.S. totaled nearly $564 billion in 2000, making the travel and tourism industry the third largest in the Nation (after health services and business services), and accounting for total direct employment of over 7.8 million (Travel Industry Association of America, 2001b).
Tourism has many potential benefits for rural areas (Frederick, 1992). Tourism can be an important source of jobs for nonmetro communities, especially for those that are economically underdeveloped. Because jobs in the tourist industry often do not require advanced training, local residents with few skills can readily work as food servers, retail clerks, and hospitality workers. Tourism also not only offers business opportunities to local residents, but it can serve as a vehicle for marketing a place to potential residents and firms, as today’s tourist may return
later to retire or start a business locally.

Benefits deriving from tourism development must be balanced against potential negative effects. Jobs in the travel and tourism industry are frequently low-paying and seasonal and often offer limited benefits. In some cases, particularly where tourism strategies are ineffectual, local residents may have to pay for tourism marketing and infrastructure through higher taxes. Tourism can also increase demand for land in rural areas, which may inflate real estate prices, potentially putting the cost of housing beyond the reach of the average local resident. This is the
case for some amenity-rich tourism destinations (particularly in the West) experiencing growth in recent years stemming from recreation-based activities (Brown and Fazzone, 1998). Tourism may directly lead to unsightly sprawl in rural areas by creating a demand for development.
Other negative side effects include potentially higher rates of crime and greater demand for local services, such as police and fire protection and sanitation services, which can be expensive to provide. Also, tourism can risk changing the rural “sense of place” for some communities.
Increased crowding and traffic congestion may also result with an influx of tourists into an area. Greater demand for local arts and crafts can also potentially lead to a lowering of the quality of these products. Finally, tourism risks degrading natural resources in rural areas unless 3 environmental sustainability efforts are undertaken. Many of these risks, however, can be mitigated if proper planning is employed at the outset of tourism development.

Comprehensive planning and development represents one of the key components of most
successful rural tourism strategies. Long and Nuckolls (1994) underscore the need for effective planning, and stress that technical assistance can prove crucial to tourism development success for many small communities with limited resources. Weaver (1991) argues that many nonmetro communities would also benefit from an expanded Federal role in rural tourism, as well as greater State involvement. Marcouiller (1997) stresses that tourism planning need not occur in a vacuum, but may be of more use to a rural community when the planning is tied to broader
regional development efforts.

Marketing of tourism poses special challenges for many rural areas. Frequently, rural
communities lack the name recognition associated with more populated areas. Different
strategies can be pursued to achieve greater name recognition among potential visitors.
Commonly, this involves targeting potential visitors to an area. For example, Henning (1996) demonstrates that survey methods in a rural Louisiana community have been effective in targeting the area to seniors, who are among the most frequent visitors. Often regional marketing makes the most sense given the limited resources available to many rural areas (Shields and Schibik, 1995). However, Sadowske and Alexander (1992) caution that prior to implementing an expensive marketing strategy, communities should be aware of other costs associated with tourism development. They also argue that the key to success in tourism often lies in communities striking a balance between the private and social costs and benefits of rural tourism development.