Tourism Bangladesh: Problems & Prospectus

Zahid Islam

Introduction• Tourism is not a Marely hobby or pass time now a days, rather it

has flourished and able to established itself as a sector of international Economy and it is termed as Travel & Tourism Industries (TTI) world wide.

• Bangladesh which is branded as “ Beautiful Bangladesh” is a land of Royal Bengal Tigers, is not exceptional to this, but it has not developed to such slandered that it can contributes to national economy considerably.

• Every country has some historically or naturally important sights to draw the international attention and overseas visitor become satiated by going there.

Introduction• Bangladesh is a consequence of a great history, its natural

beauty is very charming, geographically it located in mild and comfortable weather.

• Some of our neighbors like Srilanka, Maldives, Nepal, India developed their travel, tourism and recreation sector tremendously, and this sector contributes a solid portion to their GDP.

• We have the opportunity to flourish this sector through proper utilization and management.

Tourism world wide and the status of Bangladesh• Travel & Tourism’s impact on the economic and social

development of a country can be enormous; openingit up for business, trade and capital investment, creating jobs and entrepreneurialism for the workforce andprotecting heritage and cultural values.

• Recent years have seen Travel & Tourism growing at a faster rate than both the wider economy and other significant sectors such as automotive, financial services and health care.

• Comparing with the world average the scenario is not impressive for bangladesh

Tourism world wide and the status of Bangladesh• T&T generated USD 7.6

trillions which is almost 10% of the worlds economy.

• It created 277 millions of job opportunity.

• Overseas visitors was 1.14 billion.

• Visitors from emerging countries was 46%, that was 36% in 2000.

World Bangladesh

Direct contribution

2364.80 bn$ (3.1%)

3.70 bn$(1.9%)

Total contribution

7580.80 bn$ (10.50%)

7.84bn$(4.10%)

Direct employment

10.50 Mn (3.6%)

0.91 Mn (1.6%)

Total employment

276 Mn (9.40%)

19 Mn (3.60%)

Tourism world wide and the status of Bangladesh• Some developed and developing countries, even some LDC

tagged countries economy solely depends on T&T.• The economy of Egypt, Nepal, Maldives, Thailand, Cambodia,

Peru, Iceland, Switzerland, Malaysia, Maritous, Mozambique, Zimbabwe are highly benefitted.

• Caribbean Islands, Mediterranean's, South –east Asian countries and Latin America are the prime destinations for the tourists.

Tourism world wide and the status of Bangladesh• There are various types of

tourism based on spots like Natural Beauty, Historical significance, Religion importance, medical purpose, Games and Sports events, Shopping's or simply seasonal recreation etc.

• Bangladesh is very rich in its tourist resources.

Nature History

Religion Medical

shopping sports

Tourism world wide and the status of Bangladesh• There are three UNESCO-declayred Heritage sights in

Bangladesh. These are-a) world greatest Mangrove forest, The Sunder ban, b) The sixty Dome Mosque in Bagerhat and c) the ruins of Ancient Pundra city of Buddhist civilization.

• Bangladesh is the largest deltaic land in the world.• World longest(120km) safe sandy sea beach of Cox’s Bazar is

in Bangladesh.• the Sandeep Island, a former Portuguese pirate stronghold is

located at the estuary of Meghna river.

Tourism world wide and the status of Bangladesh• Srimangal with miles of tea gardens.• Dhaka is called the city of mosque.• Various ethnic and tribal groups lives in various parts of

country, their attractive culture and life pattern is different and Interesting.

• There are so many ancient Mosque, Hindu Temples and Pagodas around the Land.

Tourism world wide and the status of Bangladesh• Bangladesh is a land of river, thre are about 700 rivers.• There are so many water bodies, locally called Bil, Hour, Bour

and lakes. These are suitable to cruise and angling.• Moreover Bangladesh has a very rich historical backgrounds,

we the Bangalee the proud decenter of one of the rich civilizations.

SundarbonLargest mangrove forest

BandarbanThe golden Pagoda

Mountain riverBeauty of Sylhet.

KuthibariMemory of Great Poet Rabindranath Tagor.

Largest Bihar in The world. Aristocracy of Colonial Dhaka

St marteens island

nilgiri

Cox bajar

Challenges and What to do• Forty years has elapsed of Bangladesh’s tourism industry, yet

we still see it in a nascent position in comparison to our neighbouring countries. Despite having all the potential to flourish, tourism in this country has been growing at a very slow pace.

• Bangladesh is not known as a tourist destination in the international tourism market. Only 3 lacs foreign tourists came to Bangladesh in 2010, of which more than 70 percent came for business and official purposes

Challenges and What to do• The sector got recognition as an industry in 1999. But it never

received attention from the government to become a vibrant industry.

• Whereas many countries which started much later than Bangladesh, for example – Maldives, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos PDR – have developed their tourism industry much faster than this country.

• In 1998 Bangladesh received 171,961 tourists and Cambodia received only 96,000 tourists. After 11 years in 2009, Bangladesh could attract only 267,000 tourists and Cambodia more than 2 million tourists.

Challenges and What to do• The lack of development of the tourism industry of

Bangladesh can be attributed to multiple reasons like less-prioritisation of tourism by all previous governments, lack of budgetary allocation and scarcity of trained people in the industry.

• There is also a lack of publicity and marketing activities. We lag behind in projecting our attractions to international tourists through advertisements in international print and electronic media, as our neighbouring countries do.

Challenges and What to do• We have to do this for enhancing the positive image of our country and

for introducing our prime tourist attractions as well as our vibrant culture.

• We need to develop an effective brand name for tourism. We have never tried to understand that branding not only helps tourism of the country, it encourages foreign investment as well.

• A tourism branding campaign called ‘Beautiful Bangladesh’ has been developed, but according to the tourism stakeholders of the country it does not wholly reflect the tourist attractions of the country. Tour operators who bring foreign tourists are raising demands to mend it. Bangladesh, which has so many positive aspects, needs to rebuild its brand as a country.

Challenges and What to do• Due to the absence of proper planning, even some

infrastructure developments that require a small budget could not be accomplished. For attracting more foreign tourists, we need to turn tourist attractions into tourism products i.e. finished products to sell. Appropriate infrastructural development, super-structure development, introduction of waste management systems and sustainability of the tourist attractions for our future posterity are most essential.

THANKS TO ALL