Across the 2019 Easter Period, a group of social media influencers joined forces to take a look at the real Pakistan. As the name may suggest, the Changing Perceptions Tour is designed to change fixed opinions of Pakistan as a country.
Across the ten days of this packed tour, travellers went deep into the real Pakistan. They’ve returned but their work remains and, as a follow up to those travels, Changing Perceptions is out to reinforce the message in the UK and beyond.
Message to Parliament
A number of follow up events have been organised following the success of the original tour and they all involve the screening of a 30 minute documentary that details the group’s activities. An exclusive screening was originally shown in the Courthouse Hotel in London’s Soho on June 12 and was then followed up by a further showing in London’s Houses of Parliament and finally a stop in Birmingham with Mr Khalid Mahmood MP in attendance.
Screenings so far were all well received and helped to reinforce the aim to show Pakistan and its tourism industry in a more positive light. Shortly after, the showing on June 18th UK Parliament was especially positive and the group expect significant traction to come from the meeting. In attendance were Mr Faisal Rashid MP, Mr Khalid Mahmood MP and Ms Andleeb Abbas, the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
CPIC’s Zeeshaan Shah wanted to inspire others at the meeting to follow CPIC’s example:
“Pakistan’s perception vs ground reality are far apart. There’s so much room to show the true image of the country and where the world’s perception is… I want to see other private organisations both from the UK and Pakistan taking the blueprint of what I’ve done and carrying it forward.”
Ten Day Wonders
The original trip into Pakistan was undertaken by a number of high profile travel bloggers and YouTubers who were ideally placed to add their influence to the Changing Perceptions cause. Included on the list were Michael Corey, Ryan Riel, Alexandrina Cojacaru, Siya Zarrabi, Alexis Alford, Anushkae Khan and Brooke Saward.
At the head of the group was Zeeshan Shah, founder of CPIC Global and a social media influencer in his own right. Between them, the group can boast over 2.75 million followers via various channels and that’s clearly a significant sum. The exposure gained during the 10 days was tremendous and the stunning footage formed a significant part of the follow up productions.
During those 10 days, the group started in Islamabad and made their way up the Great Trunk Road to take in the stunning city of Rawalpindi. The climax of the trip involved an excursion to Upper Hunza and the enchanting Fairy Meadows.
Some stunning scenery and man-made monuments were experienced during the journey as the true Pakistan shone out. The follow up has also been extremely positive and the people behind Changing Perceptions will continue to get their message out about the hugely beneficial aspects of the Pakistan tourism industry.
You can watch the full spectacular documentary here: