Destination Bangladesh Unusual Unique Authentic

Beautiful Bangladesh! The land of Royal Bengal Tigers and the greatest mangrove forest of the world. Visit the sandwip Island, a former pirate stronghold, or srimangal with miles of tea gardens. Vis-it the heaven of eco-tourists!

Bangladesh

D E s T I n A T I o n

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DESTInATIon: Bangladesh

September, 2009

Bangladesh is located in the north-eastern part of South Asia. The majestic Himalayas stand

some distance to the north, while in the south lays the Bay of Bengal. There is West Bengal border on the west and in the east lie the hilly and forest-ed regions of Tripura, Mizoram (India) and Myan-

mar. These picturesque geographical boundaries frame a low lying plain of about 1,47,570 square kilometer criss-crossed by innumerable rivers and streams. Mighty rivers are the Padma (Ganges), the Brahmaputra (Jamuna) & the Meghna and the Karnafuli.

BAnGLADESH: HISToRy AnD nATuRAL BEAuTy

Bangladesh offers many tourist attractions, in-cluding archaeological sites, historical mosques and monuments, longest natural beach in the world, picturesque landscape, hill forests and wildlife, roll-ing tea gardens and tribes. As much of the country has been relatively untouched by modern technol-

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September, 2009

ogy and development, tourists find the rich flora and fauna and colorful tribal life very enchanting. Each part of the country offers distinctly different to-pography, flavors and food. It is home to the Royal Bengal Tigers, freshwater pink dolphins, historical temples made of red earth.

Some of the better known tourist attractions are: Srimangal, where miles of tea gardens are located,

i• In 2008 Bangladesh drew over 400,000 tourists

compared to 2007 when there were 200,000 visitors.

• The prime tourist attractions in Bangladesh in-clude the Sundarbans (the world’s largest natural mangrove forest), Cox’s Bazaar and the capital city Dhaka.

• BangladeshhasthreesitesinscribedontheUNES-Co World Heritage List: Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat, Ruins of the Buddhist vihara at Paha-rpur, and The Sundarbans (1997).

Mainamati, Mahasthangarh, Paharpur for archaeol-ogy, Rangamati, Kaptai and Cox's Bazar for sight seeing, and the Sundarbans for wild life and the greatest mangrove forest of the world, as well as Foy's Lake for scenic beauty.

Photos: TR, Flickrhttp://www.bangladesh.gov.bd/

http://www.wtmlondon.com/tr

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September, 2009

Unstable Political Situation Deters Tourists

Political unrest and the adverse security situation within Bangladesh deterred both domestic as well as foreign tourists from exploring the country. In-ternational tourists feared going to a country with political uncertainty, and even local tourists found

it safer to venture abroad for tourism, rather than explore Bangladesh.

Natural Disasters Add to WoesTwo spells of devastating floods in July and Sep-

tember 2007 were followed by the country's worst cyclone, Sidr, in November 2007. These caused

extensive damage to the country and had an ob-vious negative effect on tourism, especially since most of the infrastructure in the coastal areas was destroyed in the cyclone.

Poor International Image Dampens Prospects for Immediate Recovery

Unfortunately, tourism is one of the most neglect-ed markets in Bangladesh. The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2009 of the World Eco-nomic Forum (WEF) ranked Bangladesh as 129th amongst 133 countries. The lack of government support has resulted in poor infrastructure such

iToP 10 SouRCE CounTRIES foR BAnGLADESH TouRISM

(‘000 PEoPLE)

2008Arrivals from India 105,9other countries of origin 32,6Arrivals from united Kingdom 20,9Arrivals from uSA 11,5Arrivals from China 6,8Arrivals from nepal 5,1Arrivals from japan 5,0Arrivals from South Korea 3,1Arrivals from Canada 2,6Arrivals from Pakistan 2,0

©2009 Euromonitor International

EuRoMonIToR InTERnATIonAL: TRAvEL AnD TouRISM In BAnGLADESH

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September, 2009

as the poor condition of transport and power. The airline sector has also negatively affected tourism due to limited flights, inefficiency at the airports and flight delays. Local travel is hampered by lack of amenities on the highways, as well as poor road conditions.

Local Tourists Venture Outwards In-stead of Exploring Their Own Country

Outbound travel far exceeds inbound travel in Bangladesh. Increasing disposable incomes led Bangladeshis to explore long haul destinations – both for leisure trips and business. Religious trips and medical tourism are also strong reasons for travel.

The prime tourist attractions in Bangladesh in-clude the Sundarbans, Cox's Bazaar and the capital city Dhaka. Despite the presence of some premier Buddhist sites, as well as unexplored eco-tourism potential, the poor image of tourism has led to limited awareness of these unexplored tour-ist attractions. In addition, tourism is seasonal in Bangladesh, with about 25% of arrivals being in the months of December and January. There is also a lack of campaigns to encourage travel outside peak periods.

i BAnGLADESH ACCoMMoDATIon

foRECAST

2008 2010 2012Hotels 14,6 18,7 22,6

other travel accommodation 4,5 5,9 7,2


i BAnGLADESH: TRAvEL onLInE SALES

foRECAST 2007 2008 2009Travel accommodationInternet 7,7 8,9 10,4others 92,3 91,1 89,6


Eco-tourism Is a BuzzwordEco-tourists are increasing exponentially

worldwide. Therefore, the Bangladesh govern-ment has been seriously looking at exploring eco-tourism; taking advantage of the presence of the world's largest natural mangrove forest, the Sundarbans.

Adequate water transport and accommodation facilities in the forests are to be created to attract local and foreign tourists; with adequate facilities

and opportunities, there is immense potential for the Sundarbans and other rural areas for earning through tourism. Tourism in Bangladesh has the potential to spur overall economic development of the country and result in: growth of the Gross Domestic Product; human resource development; poverty alleviation through development of rural livelihood and employment of women; even promo-tion of local cuisine.

It requires extensive preparation with a huge financial backup. It is possible for Bangladesh to use tourism development as an integral tool for economic progress, provided that the neces-sary infrastructure is put in place. With the re-alisation of tourism's multi-dimensional potential, including balance of payments, economy diversi-fication, revenue expansion and direct and indi-rect employment opportunities, it makes perfect sense for Bangladesh to give its tourism industry top priority.

(Extract from Euromonitor International’s report “Travel and Tourism in Bangladesh”)

Photos: Ambdhakahttp://www.euromonitor.com

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September, 2009

The Sundarbans, covering about one million ha in the delta of the rivers Ganga, Brah-

maputra and Meghna at the point where it merges with the Bay of Bengal, is the single largest block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world shared

between Bangladesh (62%) and India (38%), which supports a large, biodiversity-rich unique ecosys-tem.

With its array of trees and wildlife the forest is a showpiece of natural history. It is also a center of

THE SunDARBAnS: WoRLD’S LARGEST MAnGRovE ECoSySTEM

economic activities, such as extraction of timber, fishing and collection of honey. The area of Sun-darban experiences a subtropical monsoonal cli-mate with an annual rainfall of 1600-1800 mm and severe cyclonic storms. Enormous amount of sedi-ments carried by the three rivers contribute to its expansion and dynamics.

Salinity gradients change over a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Interestingly, the Ban-gladesh and Indian portion of the forest are listed in the UNESCO world heritage list separately as the Sundarbans, i.e. the “beautiful forest”, and Sun-darban National Park respectively, though they are simply parts of the same forest.

The Sundarbans is intersected by a complex net-work of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests, and presents an excellent example of ongoing ecological processes.

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September, 2009

The area is known for its wide range of flora and fauna. The most famous among these are the man-eating Royal Bengal Tigers, but numerous species of birds, spotted deer, crocodiles and snakes also inhabit it. The mangroves have been extensively exploited over centuries for timber, fish and prawns, honey, fodder, or converted for paddy and aquacul-ture and now it faces the serious challenges for its existence.

Javan rhino, wild buffalo, hog deer, and bark-ing deer are already extinct from the area. While conservation efforts have focused on wildlife, par-

ticularly tiger, through creation of several sanctu-aries and a biosphere reserve, reduced freshwa-ter inflows are a serious threat as salinity is rising. Heritiera fomes (from which Sundarban derives its name), Nypa fruticans and Phoenix paludosa are declining rapidly. Other threats to biodiversity come from the growing human population, pollution, and a rise in sea level.¨

By Md. Saidur Rahmanhttp://srmilan.tripod.com

http://www.wtmlondon.com/tr

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September, 2009

STRENGTHSWhat is the current level of patronage, and

how does this compare with past trends?Tourists in Bangladesh are inbound tourists, Ban-

gladeshi middle and high class or expats. There is a lack of knowledge about demand in the Ban-gladeshi tourism business, particular regarding the

Bangladeshi middle and high class and the expatri-ated community. Inbound tourism registration exist for the period 1996-2005. Average number of in-bound tourists in the period was 203.015 tourists. The lowest number of inbound tourists was 165.887 tourists recorded in 1996, the highest was 271.270 tourists in 2004.

What products are accentually and potentially available?

Due to historical isolation Bangladeshi culture and history is distinct from many countries. Bangla-desh offers a variety of natural and cultural tourist destinations, some on the UNESCO Heritage List. The national transport, whether it is by air, land or water, is cheap although the existing slow transpor-tation by road, rail and water can be an adventure with the right positive attitude.

A variety of tourist accommodation facilities are offered in rural and urban Bangladesh. Most in-vestment has been done in the business related tourism and the metropolitan cities. Bangladesh is concerned with safeguarding a heritage dam-aged by increased salinity and climate change. Nevertheless sustainable commercial use of these resources is often low, which affects the standard for preservation, development and level of interna-tional appeal.

Bangladesh is a fairly new and rarely visited in-bound tourist destination, which can attract an adventure searching tourist market. The world im-age of Bangladesh can be inspired by several new sustainable tourist attractions to increase the un-derstanding of the country’s history and develop-ing challenges. The interest in the effects of global warming can affect the inbound travel market in Bangladesh, as the country is one of the 10 coun-tries most vulnerable to a rise in sea level.

The tourism potential in Bangladesh can be de-veloped through implementation of multilateral and

SWoT AnALySIS of THE BAnGLADESHI TouRISM SECToR

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September, 2009

inter-regional projects or co-operation with foreign travel companies.

Who are the customers, and how are they segmented?

Bangladesh attracts inbound tourists from many countries; several pull-factors are expected and the tourist activity is spread throughout the year. South Asia and Europe are the larges inbound regions and India, UK and USA are the largest inbound countries. Local travel market is part of the growing urban pop-ulation, which lives similarly to their Western coun-terparts. 12 million passport holders and a decrease in annual working days since 2005 are estimated to have a positive effect on the local travel market.

Expatriated Bangladeshis represent a word of mouth access to several potential national target markets. Moving back to their native country some of them also represent a valuable skilled work-force in the tourism sector. The urban expatriated community in Bangladesh represents a variety of nationalities. The average years of stay are be-tween 2-5 years.

What are the activities and behavior of the costumers?

In terms of existing tourist products, both inbound and home market, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Chittagong and Khulna Division are the main tourist divisions. Sun-darbarns, Cox’ Bazar and Chittagong Hill Tracks are some of the most popular tourist destinations.

To what extent are costumers satisfied with the available products?

Several travel experienced expats argue that the best experiences in Bangladesh are to be found outside Dhaka.

What are the available financial and human resources?

The tourism industry has low construction, run-ning and salary expenses. Labor force is reliable

and abundant. English is commonly used by the tourism industry. The national aviation industry are expanding, as the Bangladeshi aviation industry followed the globally growth rate in 2007.

WEAKNESSESWhat products are available?Several factors, e.g. amount of garbage and the

condition of several attractions, indicate that the existing tourism business is not sustainable. The accessibility to tourist destinations and accommo-dations is negatively affected by non-availability of adequate infrastructure, including domestic and international transportation. Existing beach life,

Bangladeshi style, includes mud flats destinations loathed during high season. This can not be sold as a typical western mass tourism destination.

The existing low inbound tourism demand indi-cates that fundamental product and promotion im-provement is required. Tourism products should re-late to the fact that Bangladesh is a modern Muslim society and a densely populated developing coun-try, which has been historically isolated. Sustain-able tourism product is one such solution. Tourists, especially inbound tourists, need a guide or high level of knowledge to travel safely and responsibly (culture and nature awareness) in Bangladesh.

To what extent are costumers satisfied with the available products?

Several tourist products do not live up to a west-ern concept of quality and service. Travelling time and safety are relevant obstacles to the local expat target market. Social insecurity: Local people do not have experience with tourists, so visitors some-time feel uneasy in some places. Several expats, who have no experience with urban Bangladesh, base their perception of rural Bangladesh on their impressions of the capital city.

What are the available financial and human resources?

The Bangladeshi level of investments in travel & tourism is not exceptional, compared with regional and worldwide annual investment. The tourism in-dustry is vulnerable due to a short high season and a large local market share. There is a lack of edu-cated staff. The tourism industry is still quite young in Bangladesh, and its development has been predominantly left to the local market forces. The tourism development is largely uncontrolled as no marketing or developing policy exists, in spite of the fact that the Bangladeshi government and private tourist sector are represented by several organisa-tions (Parjatan and TOAB).

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September, 2009

There is a lack of knowledge about the demand, supply and competitors in the Bangladeshi tour-ism business. There is a low level of co-operation and innovation in the tourism sector. Tourism in-dustry lacks marketing professionalism, which is severely crippling the industry’s inbound tourism growth. In the home market every company is generally on their own when they want to pro-mote the destination. It is expensive and ineffec-tive for local operators to reach the worldwide market at the current time. The inbound tourism marketing is primarily preformed by few foreign tour operators. This fact indicates that the Ban-gladeshi tour operators are losing income to their foreign competitors.

OPPORTUNITIESBangladesh is a democratic Muslim state more

interested in national development challenges than in the conflicts between the ‘Western’ and ‘Muslim’ world. The country embraces liberal democracy, has a generally homogeneous society and one dominant religion. The interim government pro-vides travellers with a form of relative stability while fighting corruption and bureaucratic procedures.

Despite some unfathomable hindrances national economy is improving and the country is show-ing positive development. The seasonal weather is relatively stable; especially the cold season is comfortable for travelling. The population speaks Bangla and English – the latter by the well edu-cated urban people. Strong linguistic, cultural and

Inbound travel pattern to nearby tourist coun-tries correspond to the best travel season in Ban-gladesh. Bangladesh has a strategic stopover position in the region to the largest inbound tour-ist destination in the region, India, as well as two prominent world ecotourism destination, Nepal and Bhutan.

THREATSInfrastructural development is required; especial-

ly the state of the roads and rails is a significant obstacle for the tourism sector. Technological de-velopment is also required.

The climatic changes through out the year (and in the future) have considerable implications for trav-elling in Bangladesh since the country occasionally experiences harsh storms, floods and earthquakes. The country also has a worldwide image of poor land with numerous natural catastrophes and cor-ruption.

The national tourism sector is negatively affected by the lack of social and political commitment. The preservation of natural and historical attractions is just one of the challenges that the Bangladeshi so-ciety has to face.

(Excerpt from “Introduction to the tourism industry in Ban-gladesh” by Majbritt Thomson)Photos: Ambdhakahttp://www.ambdhaka.um.dk

historical connections exist to England, Pakistan and India.

The number of tourists in Bangladesh is estimat-ed to increase due to generally growing local, re-gional and world tourism travel activities. Respon-sible tourism is a growing world market niche.

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Sandwip Island may not be everybody’s idea of a great holiday destination but the more ad-

venturous might want to seek it out and discover its many hidden treasures. The island is located in southeastern Bangladesh and is quite different from other parts of the country.

So how exactly is this island different from oth-er parts of the country? For starters, it is an is-land so it has been more or less separated from

mainland Bangladesh for many years – even if inhabitants could use a boat to travel between the island and the mainland. What makes it es-pecially unique is that this is not a coastal island – it is a river island that is situated in the Meghna River estuary. Despite its location the island is so big that it is home to almost 400 000 people! There are also as many as fifteen different wards, 62 mahallas and 34 villages on Sandwip Is-

DISCovER THE HIDDEn TREASuRES of SAnDWIP ISLAnD

land. The entire island is 50 kilometers long and 5-15 kilometers wide.

Sandwip Island in Bangladesh has a great his-torical legacy. The island itself is about 3000 years old and it has been ruled by many different people over the centuries, including Delwar Khan. It was a Portuguese and Arakanese pirate stronghold dur-ing the 17th century and even today some of the architecture on the island reflects this part of the island’s history.

However, the governor of Bengal saw fit to put an end to this in 1665 as part of attempts to stop his people from being misled by the wild fancies of these unreligious and thieving individuals. Under British rule its location proved to be a bit of an ad-ministrative problem. Today it is well and truly a part of Bangladesh. It is not very developed, but where it is developed you may see remnants of its inter-esting past.

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One of the nice things about Sandwip Island in Bangladesh is that it has been formed by silt de-posits from the Meghna river. This makes it an in-credibly fertile island – something which the people of the island have been exploiting for years. Large crops of rice, dal, vegetables, coconuts, battle leave and wheat have all been grown on the island at some point in its history. Today the main crops are melons, mangos, pineapples, gaab, jam, coco-

nut and various crops. Sandwip has also gained a reputation for being a premier ship manufacturer. There are a lot of different things to see on this in-credible little island – why not visit it and discover them for yourself?

Photos: Ambdhakahttp://www.bangladesh.com

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I n b o u n d T o u r o p e r a t o r s

A. B TOURS – Bangladesh 18, Rajhuk Avenue , 3rd Floor, Lal Bhaban, Motijheel, Dhaka – 1000.

A. INTRACO (BANGLADESH) LTD. – Bangladesh House # 25, 1st Floor, Road # 4, Block # F, Banani, Dhaka – 1213

ABAKASH PARJATAN LTD. – Bangladesh Al-haj Shamsuddin Mansion(9th Floor), 17 (280 Old) New Eskaton Rood, Mogh Bazar, Dhaka – 1000

ADVENTURE CLUB – Bangladesh | 75, HMM Road, Jessore

AL-GAZI TRAVEL LTD. – Bangladesh | 8/2, North South Road, Purana Paltan, Dhaka – 1000

AMAZING HOLIDAYS – Bangladesh Hotel Victory Building (13th floor), 30/A, Naya Paltan, V.I.P Road, Ramna, Dhaka

AUTHENTIC TOURISM NETWORK – Bangladesh 1557 Hajipara, Singapore Market, (5th floor), Room # 609, 610, Chittagong

BAN- VOYAGE (TOUR OPERATOR) – Bangladesh House# 28, Road# 3, Sector#4 Uttara Model Town, Dhaka – 1230

BANGLADESH ECOTOURS – Bangladesh | 263, Jubilee Road, Tinpol, Chittagong-4000

BANGLADESH RESORTS & HOTELS LTD. – Bangladesh Marine Drive, Kolatoli New Beach, Cox's Bazar

BANGLADESH TOURISM INTERNATIONAL – Bangladesh 13/A, Planner Tower, Suit # 14, Floor # 13, Sonargaon Road, Dhaka – 1000,

BANGLADESH TOURS TRAVELS – Bangladesh 332, Free School Stree, Sonargaon Road Hatirpool, Dhaka – 1205

BANGLADESH TRAVEL HOMES LTD – Bangladesh House # 20, Road-12, Sector-1 (Ground floor), Uttara Model Town, Dhaka – 1230

BHRAMAN BANGLA – Bangladesh Hotel Farooq (3rd floor), 174 Nawabpur Road , Dhaka – 1100

CENTRAL TRAVELS – Bangladesh | 154, Motijheel C/A (Near WAPDA), Dhaka – l000

GENESIS – Bangladesh Hotel Raj Complex, 154, Kazi Nazrul Islam Road, Sadargahat, Chittagong – 4000

HOLIDAY RESORTS BANGLADESH LTD. – Bangladesh Hotel Farooq, 172, Nawabpur Road, Dhaka – 1000

HOLY TRAVEL & TOURS – Bangladesh G&A Market (Gr. Floor), 13/1, Paribagh Sonargaon Road, Dhaka -1000

HOTEL LAKE CASTLE LIMITED – Bangladesh House # I A, Road# 68/ A, Gulshan-2, Dhaka – 1212

HOTEL SUFIA INTERNATIONAL – Bangladesh | Khthaltali, Rangamati

IDEAL TOUTISAM SERVICES – Bangladesh House# 146, Room# 2, Block #A, Section # 12, Pallabi, Dhaka – 1216

IMPERIAL HOTEL INTERNATIONAL – Bangladesh | 33, Bangabandhu Avenue, Dhaka – 1000

KANIZ TRAVELS – Bangladesh 10-11, Surma Super Market, Airport Road Ambagkhanam, Sylhet – 3100

KUSHIARA TOURISM LIMITED (KTL) – Bangladesh House # 40, Road # 3, Sector # 13, Uttara Dhaka -1230

MEGHNA VILLAGE (HOLIDAY RESORT) – Bangladesh 1, Azimpur Natun Paltan, Dhaka – 1205

MUSA OVERSEAS EXPRESS – Bangladesh | Dargah Gate, Sylhet

PRIME TOURISM NETWORK LIMITED – Bangladesh Room# 506, 4ffi Floor, Motaleb Mansion 2, R.K. Mission Road, Dhaka – 1203

RIVER AND GREEN TOURS – Bangladesh M.R. Center (6th Floor), House-49, Road-17, Banani C/A, Dhaka -1213

SHAH KAMAL TRAVELS AND TOURS – Bangladesh Sylhet Road, Kamalpur Bazar, Moulvibazar – 3200

SUNDARBAN TOURISM PLUS – Bangladesh | 299/3, Sonargaon Road, Dhaka – 1205

SURESWAR TRAVELS – Bangladesh 204, Shohid Syed Nazrullslam Sarani, Aziz Co-operative Market (Gr. floor), Room # 31-32-33, Bijoynagar, Dhaka – 1000

TIME & TRADE INTERNATIONAL LTD. – Bangladesh Crescent Centre (3rd floor), 36, Topkhana Road, Dhaka

TRAVEL POINT – Bangladesh | 13, New circular Road, West Malibagh, Dhaka – 1217

VISIT BANGLA – Bangladesh | 139, Bara Moghbazar, Dhaka – 1217

ZAM ZAM INTERNATIONAL – Bangladesh 5, Hossain Shaheed Suhrawardi Road, Chittagong

Destination Bangladesh Unusual Unique Authentic

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