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Karachi a tourist hot spot in the 60s/70s?
I was reading that in the 60s and 70s there was a large prescense of western airlines in Karachi. I also saw a tourist video by Pan Am of visiting Karachi. My question is was Karachi a place many people at that time from the west would visit for tourism and how was Pakistan then when it came to saftey for foreigners?
Re: Karachi a tourist hot spot in the 60s/70s?
Yes along with Kabul, Lebanon and Tehran, all were pretty high profile places for well heeled travellers to enjoy, playgrounds for the wealthy.
Re: Karachi a tourist hot spot in the 60s/70s?
They were the Dubais and Tel Avivs at the time.
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- RoySFlying
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Re: Karachi a tourist hot spot in the 60s/70s?
In 1960 I had an unexpected stay in Karachi. I was travelling with my family on a Bristol Britannia from London to Singapore and there was a scheduled stop in Karachi for refueling. When it came to reboarding, there was a problem with one of the engines, causing a lengthy delay. Passengers were put up in a hotel until the problem was fixed and we could continue the flight via Colombo (in what was then called Ceylon) to Paya Lebar in Singapore.
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- Channex757
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Re: Karachi a tourist hot spot in the 60s/70s?
In the 1960s and 70s PIA also had a pretty stellar reputation. PK and MEA of Lebanon were the Emirates and Qatar Airways of their day.
Karachi was a fairly cosmopolitan hub for PIA's operations, and other major airlines also used to call in as a stop on the various east-west routes. Russian and Chinese airspace wasn't as open as it is today so flights also needed to make hefty detours and Karachi was a handy location to fuel.
Karachi was a fairly cosmopolitan hub for PIA's operations, and other major airlines also used to call in as a stop on the various east-west routes. Russian and Chinese airspace wasn't as open as it is today so flights also needed to make hefty detours and Karachi was a handy location to fuel.
Re: Karachi a tourist hot spot in the 60s/70s?
RoySFlying wrote:In 1960 I had an unexpected stay in Karachi. I was travelling with my family on a Bristol Britannia from London to Singapore and there was a scheduled stop in Karachi for refueling. When it came to reboarding, there was a problem with one of the engines, causing a lengthy delay. Passengers were put up in a hotel until the problem was fixed and we could continue the flight via Colombo (in what was then called Ceylon) to Paya Lebar in Singapore.
Must've been quite the journey aboard the "Whispering Giant." Would be interesting for you to post a trip report of that.
Moe
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- BawliBooch
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Re: Karachi a tourist hot spot in the 60s/70s?
Karachi, Kabul, Beirut & Tehran were quite different in the 60's. My folks still love to regale us with tales of their trips to these places. Beirut in particular was a favored layover during the annual Europe trip.
Karachi is still quite cosmopolitan as compared to the rest of Pakistan. I last visited Karachi in 2001 at the height of tensions between India & Pakistan and was struck by how friendly the Pakistanis were to a visiting Indian journalist!
Karachi has a vibrant Gay culture too. Very very surprising! Only downside to visiting Pakistan - that stamp on my passport leads to extended questioning everytime I visit the US now. Something my parents never had to deal with! 
Were you a Shipping charter? There was some sort of open viewing deck at Karachi airport and my folks tell me they saw many British aeroplanes landing at KHI full of Navy crew enroute to board ships at Bangkok. Perhaps this was a thing in 1962?
Karachi is still quite cosmopolitan as compared to the rest of Pakistan. I last visited Karachi in 2001 at the height of tensions between India & Pakistan and was struck by how friendly the Pakistanis were to a visiting Indian journalist!
Karachi has a vibrant Gay culture too. Very very surprising! Only downside to visiting Pakistan - that stamp on my passport leads to extended questioning everytime I visit the US now. Something my parents never had to deal with! RoySFlying wrote:In 1960 I had an unexpected stay in Karachi. I was travelling with my family on a Bristol Britannia from London to Singapore and there was a scheduled stop in Karachi for refueling. When it came to reboarding, there was a problem with one of the engines, causing a lengthy delay. Passengers were put up in a hotel until the problem was fixed and we could continue the flight via Colombo (in what was then called Ceylon) to Paya Lebar in Singapore.
Were you a Shipping charter? There was some sort of open viewing deck at Karachi airport and my folks tell me they saw many British aeroplanes landing at KHI full of Navy crew enroute to board ships at Bangkok. Perhaps this was a thing in 1962?
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- nancyvinci23
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Re: Karachi a tourist hot spot in the 60s/70s?
BawliBooch wrote:Only downside to visiting Pakistan - that stamp on my passport leads to extended questioning everytime I visit the US now. Something my parents never had to deal with!
That's terrible. Is that a "precautionary" measure- keep an eye out for people arriving from Muslim countries? Have you ever asked them the purpose of all the questions that follow?
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