Why is Pakistan more attractive to foreign tourists than India?

[MH.Yang]

I would be very happy if these figures are correct. On my visit to Pakistan through Islamabad Airport Chinese presence was there but very small although conspicious because of the lack of foreigners in Pakistan.

Unlike India, the Chinese government is very serious about statistics. And they have no reason to lie about these two numbers. You can believe them.
We know that the largest number of international tourists in Pakistan are British, followed by Indians and Americans, and the number of Chinese is only the fourth. But Pakistan has a special position in the hearts of the Chinese people. Many people know broghil Valley, karombar lake, karambar lake and so on. China's popular travel app contains a lot of information about Pakistan. Of course, security issues do have a great impact.

As for India, it's too dirty, even drinking water to be safe. Women are more afraid to go to India, you know why. Popular travel apps in China are full of complaints about travel experience in India. Therefore, India is really not popular with Chinese tourists.

 

[Imran Khan]

it seems new to me

 

[Areesh]

220.9 million Pakistanis when @Indus Pakistan comes to Pakistan

 

[MH.Yang]

According to this article 80 thousand Chinese visited Pakistan in 2019
https://www.bjreview.com/Latest_Headlines/202103/t20210329_800241619.html

In 2019, the number of people leaving for Pakistan accounted for 0.18% of China's 155 million people leaving the country, so it was 380000.

https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1690471219444248490&wfr=spider&for=pc&searchword=%E5%8E%BB%E5%B7%B4%E5%9F%BA%E6%96%AF%E5%9D%A6%20%E6%97%85%E6%B8%B8%E4%BA%BA%E6%95%B0

 

[Meengla]

Most Chinese love Pakistan.Many of my friends want to travel to Pakistan.Pakistan is friendly to Chinese and the consumption level is low.But everyone is worried about safety.Pakistan is the scene of frequent terrorist attacks.
No one wants to die for traveling.

Thank you. But Sadly, I don't buy the OP's numbers. India is way ahead in attracting foreign tourists.

Unfortunately the 'perception' holds although the security situation in Pakistan has dramatically improved in last few years. If tourists stay away from potential hotspots then I dare say Pakistan is actually safer than India--and cleaner too. But Pakistan suffers from an 'image' problem but I believe the Western tourists are increasingly starting to venture into Pakistan due to the efforts of solo backpackers like Eva Zu Beck, Drew Binsky, The Food Ranger, and many others. The image problems are hard to go away in a globally competitive tourism sector: As an example, I generalize all Latin American countries as unsafe and they are not on my list to go on priority but I am sure there are notable exceptions there. Similarly, my image of Algeria was heavily tainted by the gruesome political violence in the 90s but someone here corrected me on that. Another generalization is that I see the Southeast Asian countries as year around too humid warm and attract sex-tourism but I am sure there is much more to than that.

Pakistan's image is worse because every now and then we have the mullah brigade thugs like the TLP who come out burning and killing in the name of religion. The world watches such things and is rightly scared. The recent TLP protests made it to global headlines, further reinforcing Pakistan's image problem. How many Pakistanis' livelihood has been affected by the TLP goons' mindless 'protests'?? Haraamkhors!!

Be as it may, Pakistan should really concentrate on domestic tourism first! Build facilities, starting with public toilets even if they are paid ones. Build hotels and good roads. Pakistani domestic travelers and Vloggers should make videos with English captions and those videos should be promoted by other Pakistanis, such as via this forum. There can even be a funded-services to put English captions on great travel videos? I truly believe Pakistan has tourism potentials which rival any other country in the world. Also, it wouldn't hurt to have some Western oriented resorts. If several other Islamic countries are doing it then so can Pakistan.

 

[Jungibaaz]

Glowing reviews form vloggers is a start, but it’s really no competition in tourism between India and Pakistan. Goa alone probably gets way more tourists than all of Pakistan.

We’ve got potential, but lots of work to do.

 

[RPK]

Goa alone probably gets way more tourists than all of Pakistan.

Goa not even in the Top

India: foreign tourist visits by leading state 2022 | Statista

In 2022, the state with the highest number of foreign tourists in India was Gujarat, with over 1.7 million visits.

www.statista.com

 

[Meengla]

Glowing reviews form vloggers is a start, but it’s really no competition in tourism between India and Pakistan. Goa alone probably gets way more tourists than all of Pakistan.

We’ve got potential, but lots of work to do.

Correct.
But really should Pakistan even try to attract large numbers of tourists like some countries do? Bhutan and Myanmar could attract a lot more but they choose not to because of the environmental degradation. Is India not a filthy country despite all the tourism revenue?? You see that a lot in Western blogspace when India is mentioned. Pakistan should attract more but limit to a sensible number which can be worked out. Before all that, concentrate on domestic tourism...

 

[-=virus=-]

Heard from a longtimer guy in the industry how back in the 70s the hippie trail used to pass through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan before finally India where it would be a headache to vet these goras for the authorities here so they'd ask the hotel guys to get some idea of who was coming.. low budget people though.

India still has this air of mystical romanticism around it in the minds of many travellers, and the truth is.. it doesn't let people down, great times guaranteed for all budgets, ultra luxury to backpacker villages where nobody bothers the goras.. sab kuch milega.

Pakistan today, sadly.. nobody goes, it's like a super novelty for people there to see a person from somewhere else, only ultra hardcore mountaineers go there but that's very niche.

 

[Cheepek]

It's 2021 and Pakistanis are still scrambling for official data... It's a very good sign that a supposed English forum is flooded with these loose ChingY PingY sources.

Official data- Pakistan, 2018 (Foreigners on tourist visa)- 17,823

Foreign tourists’ influx registers marked increase of over 70pc in 2018

The number of foreigners, who visited Pakistan in 2018 on tourist visa stands at 17,823, which was 10,476 in 2017.

www.brecorder.com

That 6 million figure is for "tourist traffic at cultural sites"

Tourist traffic witnesses sharp increase in five years

A Gallup Pakistan report indicates that tourism could be a potential game changer for the country’s struggling economy.

www.dawn.com

 

[Indos]

 

[PradoTLC]

i believe india has more assholes per sq Km than any nation on earth

 

[CatSultan]

South India is probably keeping the tourism going. South India is where all the infastructure and human development is. Everyone says to avoid Deli and visit Mumbai. I knew some south Indians in school. They are pretty smart. I don't know why they put up with the BJP/RSS hinduvata barbarism up north. They should just leave the federation and declare independence.

I thought UAE would be on their. that is interesting .

 

[Arulmozhi Varman]

South India is probably keeping the tourism going. South India is where all the infastructure and human development is. Everyone says to avoid Deli and visit Mumbai. I knew some south Indians in school. They are pretty smart. I don't know why they put up with the BJP/RSS hinduvata barbarism up north. They should just leave the federation and declare independence.

I thought UAE would be on their. that is interesting .

I don't know why the rest of Pakistan puts up with Punjabis despite having a small area with no resources controlling the vast majority rich less populated area. So by your logic, others should leave Pakistan and form their federation? What logic is this?

 

[CatSultan]

We spent a lot of money hiring vloggers and influencers to come here. I guess it paid off.