To attract foreign visitors, planned approach is needed, says expert

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

To quote Dr. Selim Jahan, former director of the Human Development Report Office of the UNDP, New York, as he said at the main speaker at the seminar titled Bangabandhu’s development Philosophy: The Potential of Bangladesh Tourism Industry and Sonargaon Hotel, “The lack of worldwide publicity and marketing about our tourist attractions is one of the reasons behind the low number of foreign tourists visiting Bangladesh. Our missions abroad have not been taking sufficient initiatives to attract the foreigners.”

“Various ministries and bodies are involved in the tourism sector, but the lack of coordination is a major problem for this sector,” he said at the event organised by the Hotel International limited, the owning company of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Dhaka.”

He particularly highlighted on enhancing the grip over English and other prominent languages of the tour guides.
At the seminar, in the open discussion session, the speakers mentioned that there is no comprehensive data on tourism and its different issues, including the tourist number.

Different tourist sites are explored by around one crore Bangladeshis across the country every year, according to the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation.

As per Bangladesh Tourism Board, in 2019, almost 3.2 lakh foreign tourists visited Bangladesh. Tourism stakeholders claimed that most of the foreigners coming to Bangladesh are business travelers and the number of recreational tourists is very poor.

“Local people’s purchasing capacity has increased, that is why domestic tourism has flourished in Bangladesh,” said Md Mahbub Ali, state minister for civil aviation and tourism as the chief guest at the event.

“Tourism will be one of the important means to realise the dream of economic liberation of the people of Bangladesh. The tourism industry will reflect Bangabandhu’s philanthropic development vision through the creation of employment, development of quality of life and rural areas, environmental protection, and implementation of an inclusive social development system highlighting the glorious history and heritage of Bengal to the world,” he added.

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