why are people afraid to visit pakistan ?

[khanz]

pakistan is such a hospitable and beautiful country when people decide to come they are often discouraged from visiting but are pleasantly surprised and end up loving pakistan an find it nothing like what is shown in the west but why is this and when did it start pakistan was well respected in 60s and 70s and had a reputation probably similar to south korea enjoys now even after zia and "islamization" before the wot it still had a relatively "normal" reputation but when did it all change can it ever go back to that ? I think it as a gradual process there were sadly so many incidents or black marks that got a lot of attention in western media that shaped peoples opinion about visiting

-infamous newsweek headline about pakistan being most dangerous country on earth

-lal masjid incident

-bhutto assassination and resulting violence

-salman taseer assassination

-malala incident

-taliban occupation of swat

-meena bazaar bombing

-lahore easter attack & peshawar school attack

-baitullah mehsud and his ttp running riot with suicide bombings

-daniel pearl murder

-attack in sri-lankan cricket team

-marriott hotel bombing

then there is also things pakistan does to embarrass itself like mob violence, the ridiculous blasphemy laws (which few other muslims countries have) and horrible attitude toward ahmadis . Luckily it seems to have massively stabilised in the last 2 years or so but what was the turning point for pakistan when did pakistan start to nosedive and what can be done to further improve it's image in the international community- indians and israelis esp have a strong foreign lobby and good pr campaigns in the U.S do you think pakistan also needs one ?

 

[Fireurimagination]

Reputation management will help Pakistan not only in boosting tourism but in fact in each and every field be it international diplomacy or business and economics

 

[VCheng]

Those are only headlines, it is the regular stuff that matters more: airline connections, good, safe and clean hotels, ease of transport, hygienic food and water.

 

[Winchester]

We should target adventure travelers, it is a big market....doubt any families would want to come to Pakistan.

Plus with no night life, your normal everyday tourists have far more easier options than Pakistan.

 

[barbarosa]

The people of Pakistan keep deep view on the geopolitical status of the world.
Who is friend country and who is enemy?
What is the behave of China with Pakistan? and how USA treat Pakistan? etc.
We cannot find difference among the people of China and far east, we will respect them as Chinese friends.
Other side we can't difference among the people of Europe USA and others until to meet and ask them.
It is right that these people can't tour in Pakistan free.

 

[Ray_of_Hope]

I think you will find the answer to your question in Brandon Stanton's (American photo journalist) statement about Pakistan.

"A Final Word On Pakistan:

Imagine that every time you have a lapse in judgment, it gets printed in newspapers around the world: every time you lose patience with your children, every time you scream at someone in traffic, every time you drink too much and do something you regret. Each time you slip up, everyone hears about it. The world is never notified about the 99.99% of the time that you are a completely normal, productive, law-abiding citizen. The world only learns about you when things go wrong. Now imagine what the world would think of you.

It’s not that terrorism, patriarchy, and violence aren’t real problems in Pakistan. They exist and the country is battling these issues every single day. Pakistanis are very much aware of the extremism in their midst. The problem is that so many people seem to only be aware of that extremism. Because just as in the hypothetical example above—the other 99.99% of life just doesn’t make the news. When there’s only room in the newspaper for a single column about Pakistan, it’s going to be filled with the most compelling story. And unfortunately, that tends to be the most violent story.

And those are important stories. Those are the types of stories that expose corruption, stop genocide, and alert the world to emerging threats. It’s right for those stories to be told. But when those stories are all that we hear, it’s so easy to imagine a world that’s far scarier than it really is. You lose sight of the 99.99% of the world that’s not scary at all. And living in fear can be a dangerous thing. Because if we’re afraid of each other, we’ll never be able to work together to solve our common problems."

 

[EasyNow]

To be honest, before coming to this forum I was dead against visiting Pakistan (mainly due to the reputation for terrorism, kidnapping and lawlessness).

But the threads on gilgit, baltistan, murree... And especially the ones on your unbelievable food have totally changed my mind. Get these images out there.

Now the biggest hurdle for Pakistan is that your stamp on a passport raises too many flags for a non Pakistani. Luckily, once visitor numbers start increasing, this will be less suspicious. I'll be waiting till then.

 

[zootinali]

I have read blogs and seen pictures of european visitors in Pakistan , who are always accompanied by police or security guards. I saw a video on vice's youtube channel recently ,where a female journalist stayed in a hotel in karachi ,which had three layers of security, and the security in-charge suggested the guest to got to certain floor of the building if any crisis occurs, where she will be safe. Outsiders like us know nothing about the ground realities ,but informations like these , definitly does not give a good picture of Pakistan.

 

[Ocelot]

Can't see tourism returning to Pakistan in next 10-15 years, even that if Pakistan keeps a very low profile in the world.

 

[cloud4000]

Those are only headlines, it is the regular stuff that matters more: airline connections, good, safe and clean hotels, ease of transport, hygienic food and water.

Security is key issue. And I'm not talking about terrorism, but the regular stuff like crime. Pakistan needs to spend much substantially more on LEAs then it does now.

 

[Zibago]

I have read blogs and seen pictures of european visitors in Pakistan , who are always accompanied by police or security guards. I saw a video on vice's youtube channel recently ,where a female journalist stayed in a hotel in karachi ,which had three layers of security, and the security in-charge suggested the guest to got to certain floor of the building if any crisis occurs, where she will be safe. Outsiders like us know nothing about the ground realities ,but informations like these , definitly does not give a good picture of Pakistan.

There was exageration that vice documentry two other European visited Islamabad Fashion Week the thing is in Karachi big 5 star hotels have backup plans incase of a an emergency it doesnot mean there are safety issues and she interviewed Molana Abdul Aziz on Islam,s view on fashion shows i mean every Pakistani knows he has extremist views why interview him when you were here for the Fashion Show?

Any who here are westerners who travel in Pakistan without security

 

[Strigon]

You know, news local and international will be out of business if they dont have a regular bash that one country session at-least once a day because thats the popular thing to do these days.

Not only news, you have TV serials and movies which negatively exaggerate a country's image. This doesn't only provide entertainment but also is a "source of news" of many gullible people. How many serials/ movies you have against Pakistan, China, Russia, or any other country and how many are documentaries of school shootings in US? In a study of 2015, toddlers have killed more people in accidental gun fire than terrorists. You didn't hear it because its not spicy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-powers/toddlers-involved-in-more_b_8650536.html

Personal accounts following the negative portrayal follow such "news". I have a white friend who told me how scared she was to go alone for a tour of Taj mahal. So she convinced her well built brother to accompany out of fear of rapes. So go figure.

Having said this, there is no denying many countries do have problems but not at the scale they are exaggerated because again, someone gotta pay that bill in news stations.

 

[VCheng]

Security is key issue. And I'm not talking about terrorism, but the regular stuff like crime. Pakistan needs to spend much substantially more on LEAs then it does now.

Crime in Pakistan, particularly street crime, is probably better than in many other similar developing countries that are tourist destinations also, and certainly no worse in many of them. Savvy tourists would have no problem dealing with those issues, if only the regular stuff I mentioned wasn't so darn bad.

 

[Zibago]

Crime in Pakistan, particularly street crime, is probably better than in many other similar developing countries that are tourist destinations also, and certainly no worse in many of them. Savvy tourists would have no problem dealing with those issues, if only the regular stuff I mentioned wasn't so darn bad.

Urdu muhawra hay bad say bura badnaam we have less tourists than some Latin American countries which have worse law and order issues than us

Security is key issue. And I'm not talking about terrorism, but the regular stuff like crime. Pakistan needs to spend much substantially more on LEAs then it does now.

Contrary to popular belief our crime rate is low much lower than most Latino countries

 

[VCheng]

Urdu muhawra hay bad say bura badnaam we have less tourists than some Latin American countries which have worse law and order issues than us

True, but their regular stuff that I mentioned above is much better.