Published in The Nation on Dec 03rd, 2019,
As the year draws to a close, many travel agencies, magazines and publications have released annual “top countries” lists for aspiring travelers, looking for adventure in the upcoming year. One such traveler publication, Conde Nast Traveller based in London has placed Pakistan as the best international holiday destinations.
A publication that particularly caters to wealthier Europeans, the magazine cites the recent royal visit as vindication that Pakistan is no longer unsafe for travelers.
“This remarkable country is finally getting the focus it deserves.Because this is a place of exquisite landscapes, where green spaces are overlooked by towering mountains. In fact, Pakistan has more peaks taller than 22,965 feet than China and Nepal combined, making it an almost magnetic spot for adventure travellers and intrepid hikers,” the write-up on Pakistan states.
The write-up also highlights new visa relaxations introduced by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government that make the country, and especially its awe-inspiring scenery in Gilgit-Baltistan, more easy to travel through. Foreigners, for instance, no longer require no-objection certificates to travel through Gilgit-Baltistan, and are now also allowed access to many parts of Azad Kashmir which were previously off-limits for foreigners.
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Lahore and its Mughal architecture is the only city the publication mentions, projecting Pakistan more as a destination for “adventure” travel, making trekking, mountain-climbing, white-water rafting, and similar activities the country’s main draw for foreigners.
In previous years, regions in Pakistan have featured heavily in the world’s largest travel-related publication, Lonely Planet. In a list of the Islamic world’s best destinations, Hunza was featured by Lonely Planet as the Muslim world’s most beautiful destination. The Karakoram Highway was separately featured on a list of the world’s most adrenaline-inducing road trips. In the Lonely Planet book on Cities, Lahore is the only Pakistani city featured in the book’s listing of the world’s most primed for travel cities.
Although publications in other languages continue to circulate guidebooks on the country, English-language guidebooks are rare; Lonely Planet’s last edition on Pakistan was released in 2008. Citing danger for tourists, the publication ceased releasing a Pakistan edition of its guidebooks ever since.