Mother Nature was kind to Pakistan, giving her the world’s biggest mountain range, lush green valleys, vast deserts and every type of wildlife. Its heritage is extraordinary, from ancient mosques and forts of outstanding beauty to fabulous Unesco sites of civilisations that prospered before ancient Egyptians figured out how to build a pyramid.
Now name the top five things to do on holiday in Pakistan. No? Neither can I.
That’s because for years now very few foreigners have chosen to spend their vacations there.
Sadly, it is impossible to discuss tourism in Pakistan without mentioning terrorism. Fear has been keeping visitors away since 2001, when the US suffered the 9/11 attacks. Some 35,000 people have died in terror attacks on Pakistani soil since then. Only last week another 70 were killed in a suicide bomb attack at a hospital in Quetta.
However, things are changing, driven by a young generation of Pakistani tour operators who are so proud of their heritage that they want to share it with others. They range from the in-your-face Super Savari Express bus tours of Karachi, reclaiming the city streets one tour at a time, to trekkers and climbers who have fallen in love with their own country on life-changing holidays of their own.
Naveed Khan, Founder and travel guide with Hunza on Foot, takes groups of visitors trekking in the north of the country. “Younger operators such as myself and a handful of others are trying hard to showcase Pakistan as a country that is about more than just what’s shown burning and falling apart in the news,” he tells GN Focus.
“Pakistan’s image to the rest of the world has been tarnished for far too long for it to be turned around in a short time.”
New tactics
The old hands are pleased with new life being breathed into a country that attracted a million visitors in 1974-75, then prompting the government to declare tourism an industry. Anwar Sajid, Manager of Pakistan Tours in Rawalpindi, says: “A lot of young and educated tour operators are focusing on tourism with new approaches. They are using new technologies and targeting new markets and discovering unexplored destinations, which are positive signs for the development of tourism in Pakistan.”
The overwhelming majority of people signing up to ride this new wave of tourism are Pakistani nationals, according to Bureau of Statistics data. The most recent figures show that only 885 foreigners visited all of Pakistan’s heritage sites in November 2015, compared with 247,819 nationals. Visits to museums attracted 1,267 foreigners and 236,515 nationals.
These figures are more accurate than simple entries into the country. For example, there were 270,000 British visitors to Pakistan last year, and almost all stayed with family rather than spending tourist dollars.
Sohail Azhar started TravelPak in London about a decade ago when he was still single. He offers tailor-made, accompanied trips in Pakistan and has just taken a second job because “the numbers are very low”.
“When I ask myself if I think the situation will be different in five years, I tell myself no. I’m now married with two young children and I know tourism will not be putting food on the table for them.
“Tourism is increasing domestically, but foreign visitor numbers are not growing.”
As for the thorny issue of safety and security, Azhar says: “These are perceived challenges. I have never had to arrange security for a group in ten years. Yes, there are some sections of road where one may be mandated to travel with a police escort, but I use local information from trusted guides to make my decisions.”
This was the consensus among all the tour operators I spoke to, even though many Western countries advise against travel to Pakistan. When I visited the country 23 years ago, my host insisted I had an armed guard at all times. Now, it seems, things could be growing calmer.
“With the passage of time the Western community will ease its travel advice,” says Qasim Ali, Operations Director of Hunza Guides Pakistan, which also specialises in tours in the north.
“Already many Western tour operators have started to sell Pakistan again. We can see unexpected improvements.”
This sense of optimism could be a tipping point for a country whose national cricket team has been playing in the UAE since gunmen attacked a visiting Sri Lankan team in Lahore in 2009, losing cricket tourists overnight.
Call of the mountains
“The country is a goldmine when it comes to adventure travel,” says Khan. “Any real mountain-adventure-seeker knows this and comes to Pakistan regardless of what image it has politically or otherwise.
“It is the non-extreme adventure travellers who find it difficult to choose Pakistan as a destination, but yes, with the right type of publicity, we will get there.”
This country of natural beauty and warm hospitality will need to invest in this new optimism. “The growing trend of domestic tourism is now really becoming a concern for us because the infrastructure in the north cannot cater [to this kind of] visitor numbers,” says Sajid.
“We have seen many queries from foreign tour operators this year, which is a sign of the improved security situation in the country. Things are changing very rapidly and the new tour operators are contributing a lot. They are really bringing new life to the industry.”
