Fabulous Travel & Tours, Lahore — held guilty by the Government of Pakistan
I am a Japanese independent traveller. In December 2025 I booked a nine-day private guided tour of Balochistan and Thatta with Fabulous Travel & Tours (Lahore) In December 2025, run by Nasir Iqbal. the company operating this website.
The itinerary read as though it had been generated by ChatGPT. They told me repeatedly before booking that they knew Balochistan well. They did not. Permits and the daily schedule were worked out as we went, by asking local people on the spot. I was charged permit costs that had never been disclosed to me.
On 7 December 2025, en route to Gwadar, their staff opened a conversation about the atomic bombings and abused both Japan and the United States. When I raised it, they told me on the telephone that what they had said was justified and that they would not apologise. I left the tour and made my own way home.
I complained to PTDC, the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation. PTDC appointed an inquiry officer, held the tour operator guilty, and by order dated 23 February 2026 fined them and directed that the amount be paid to me. Nothing was paid.
In June 2026 they sent me a money-transfer slip as proof of payment. It was printed with the words that it was not a receipt, and the reference number field was blank. Nothing had been sent. They then demanded, for two months, a copy of my recipient's passport before payment could proceed. MoneyGram confirmed to me in writing that no such document is required.
The Wafaqi Mohtasib, the Federal Ombudsman of Pakistan, issued Findings on 21 July 2026 recording that the operator had been held guilty of non-compliance with the agreed itinerary, undisclosed permit charges, abandonment of professional guiding duties, and passing insulting political remarks regarding Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and holding that the failure to redress my grievance for so long was tantamount to maladministration.
I was paid on 22 August 2026 — eight and a half months after the tour.
On 3 September 2026 the Department of Tourist Services Punjab, the authority that licenses travel agencies in the province, told me that as per official record this operator's licence has expired. I asked twice for the date of expiry and the licence number. No answer.
I hold the official documents and can produce them.