Just a couple of months old, “Super Karachi Express,” a tourist bus company in the metropolitan city of Karachi, in Pakistan, has set out to make culture cool in a country exhausted, overwhelmed and worn out amidst the ongoing, unrelenting sectarian violence.
We’re sitting on the rooftop of a coffee shop in Lahore called Mocca. It’s a gorgeous, sunny, winter afternoon and Arif has been in town to suss out Lahore’s vibe – the routes, culture, the Old City. He wants to figure out how his bus company can establish itself in the country’s cultural capital. It’s apparent Arif’s on the right track; he informs me he has met key people associated with the arts and culture in the city.
He has good business sense, too. Plus, Arif’s a people person, a charmer and a diplomat. It comes as little surprise that his family is involved in the tourism and hospitality industry in Pakistan; they run a travel company called Gulliver’s Travels in Karachi.
In person, Arif is like a livewire – it’s hard to get a word in – but his passion for his project is palpable. He’s brimming with ideas and can’t wait to launch Lahore’s bus tour this month, in March. “City tours are a great way of putting our own city and our own nation back on the global map as a tourist and vacation destination,” says Arif.
Even though Pakistan has much to offer in terms of tourism, politics has marred any hope for the revival of Pakistan’s once thriving tourism industry. How then, does Arif’s initiative aim to better the country’s image?