Guest Post by Bradistan Calling
The government has decided to celebrate the year 2007 as ‘Visit Pakistan Year‘.
Tourism is one of the biggest industries in the world. It can bring employment, opportunities and recognition. Pakistan is one of the best kept secrets of the tourism industry. Posts on ATP - on our various hidden tourist gems, our history, our culture and heritage, etc. - are examples of all that Pakistan has to offer. Everyone has their own ideas on Pakistan and pakistaniat; but ATP has demonostrated our ‘unity in diversity.’
ATP is the right forum for discussing how we can make “Visit Pakistan 2007″ a success.
What avenues can be explored for participation and promotion of Pakistan. How can we 
attract tourists to Pakistan in 2007 and beyond? What can institutions like the national flag carrier (PIA) do to become a calling card for Pakistani tourism and hospitality? What role can the media play in this? And what can Pakistanis abroad do?
If those Pakistanis who live abroad decide to take ‘Visit Pakistan 2007′ seriously, others will surely follow.
Bradistan Calling is a proud Pakistani in Bradford, West yorkshire (Little Pakistan).
I know of a foreigner who was here to work with a youth organization I am part of, and her friends sent her off saying “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of your family when you don’t come back” :p Thankfully she loved every minute of her one-year stay in Karachi and now extensively promotes Pakistan in her native Romania. Such are the success stories that can help us.
Pakistan has tremendous potential for tourism just considering the diversity of terrain that we have (even if we choose to ignore rich culture and archeology). If Dubai having nothing but lifeless desert, mostly extremely hot and humid weather, almost nonexistent indigenous culture and ever expensive hospitality industry can attract so many tourists I think we can do far better.
What is holding us back is our image portrayed by the world media (not entirely baseless I should say), general lack of good boarding, lodging and transport facilities, and non availability of alcohol outside major cities for tourists.
I think quoting the incidence of Daniel Pearl is completely out of place here. First he was not a tourist and second he himself was looking for the trouble.
Jay, I don’t feel merit to response after your “arabic” knowledge but the way you quoted my statment out of the context forced me to show your ignorance towards the whole thing.
[quote post="515"]Yes his murder was a cruel attempt but I wonder how much do you know about Daniel Pearl? He was here to write the crappy things about Pakistan and Islam not for PICNIC[/quote]
You delibrately/cleverly/wickedly omitted that line to put some weight in your baseless rant. As far as I know telepathy or how I know everything and you not. Well my friend don’t curse me for your ignorance while Internet source is free for you and me. Nobody asked you to trust me while GOd has given you enough capability to seek truth. All is required effort which seems like a rocket science for you.
Have fun.
[quote post="515"]but I wonder how much do you know about Daniel Pearl? He was here to write the crappy things about Pakistan and Islam not for PICNIC[/quote]
Some people seem to know everything. I had never guessed that telepathy has developed so much in Pakistan that a fellow commentator was able to read Daniel Pearl’s mind about his writing plans. Nobody in the right mind will risk going to Karachi, leaving behind a pregnant wife, to write “crappy things�. Such things can easily be written from the safety of homes as the above comment attests.
Does the “crime� of writing “crappy things about Pakistan and Islam� deserve a televised beheading of a human being? The image of Pakistan is the true reflection of our mindset and our deeds. You cannot present a better image by hiding skeleton in the closet. We need to opening confront and challenge extremism and violence in our society. Otherwise the country’s future will remain hostage to our religiosity and religion-inspired hatred.
I guess I agree that it is a good idea to try to present a better image of Pakistan and try to attract more tourists to Pakistan. But I also agree with those who point out that first we have to improve the realities on the ground. Today I saw in Dawn that even Gen. Musharraf is worried about law and order deterioration. Then why should you not expect foreigners to be also worried and those advisories being what they are?
The way India and Malaysia advertize the positive sides of country on channels like NAT Geo,Discovery,CNN etc is amazing. It’s not like those states are paradise on earth and saints live there, it’s all about loyalty towards a state that’s it!.
[quote post="515"]foreigners so that ppl like Daniel Pearl don’t get beheaded !!![/quote]
Yes his murder was a cruel attempt but I wonder how much do you know about Daniel Pearl? He was here to write the crappy things about Pakistan and Islam not for PICNIC. I laughed when people felt depressed when Angie didn’t visit Pakistan for the movie “A mighty heart”. They think that movie is all about singing praises of Pakistan.
I could consider your statment credible if you would have mentioned chinese engineers which are often killed in different parts of Pakistan.
Dear Friends
We are a research team from Pakistan currently in New York. We are researching on drinking water issues and the business strategies that affect not only ‘ethical capitalism’ but also our planet. Please help us build a better world and in taking Pakistan forward in the field of research and development by completing the following survey on “Drinking Water Perception”
http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB225Z9LGET J9
This survey is conceived and designed by the Pakistan research team at Pratt Institute in New York to get firsthand information and understand trends, perceptions and awareness of people worldwide and make strategic recommendation for our region of South Asia. The team looks forward to your support and cooperation in reaching its goal of over 10000 surveys.
Please also help us by forwarding it to your friends. Thank You
I want to mention about another ’safety’ issue for the tourists in Pakistan. We pakistani, being naturally born tan, tend to hide from natural sun; whereas many people in the rest of the world love to relax in natural sun. There is alot of sun in Pakistan but is there a place where anyone could relax in a swim suit? Maybe on the pool side of some big hotels. I remember when I was in the final year in KE in LHR, we had an international conference and some foreigners also attended that. It was mid-June and you can imagine the heat; and I remember few foriegn women who were though wearing mini skirts, but they were also wearing long thick socks to cover their legs and one could see the misery on the faces in the heat of LHR. I guess they had a pretty good idea that they were in the neighbourhood of Anar Kali & Guwal Mandi.