Eid tourism --- and the look beyond

Side by side with a large number of people's Eid travel to their ancestral village homes, many take out time to spend a few days travelling and seeing places. A few of them venture outside the country, mostly the tourist spots in the neighbouring countries. The trend of passing the Eid holidays outside the confines of residences has been picking up for more than a decade. Thanks to the lockdowns prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the steadily rising tourism culture had to pass through a crisis in 2020-21. An uncertain future stared the rising sector in the eyes. The country didn't have to wait much longer. The Bangladesh domestic tourism soon found itself on a firm footing.

Given the rise in the number of local tourists in the country, which started nearly a decade ago, the sector should have taken an institutional shape. Now that the hindrances to its growth, especially the unforeseen scourges like the pandemic and its fallout, have been dealt with firmly, the sector insides look to a better future for Bangladesh tourism. It's true the South Asian country is a new entrant in the regional tourism. Notwithstanding its fast growth, the local tourism is hamstrung by scores of limitations such as weak infrastructural facilities in the areas of communication, short-time lodging, tour guidance and the overall service sector. Many consider the lack of sufficient security a disadvantage.  However, the recent entry of imaginative tourism-related entrepreneurs shows the signs of better times for the future Bangladesh tourism. It begins with the tourist sites. Not long ago, the very term 'tourism' in this country would bring to the mind the long sandy beach of Cox's Bazar. Besides the then quiet beach and the leisurely crowds of tourists, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) slowly emerged as another site. At present along with the country's second-largest beach at Kuakata, dozens of lately discovered spots in the CHT and the greater Sylhet are popular tourist hubs. Both youths and elderly people throng these places. Many previously obscure and lesser known venues in the country are now recognised as tourist sites. A number of these spots are located at the hilly riverside areas in the Moulvibazar district under the Sylhet division. Not long ago, the Sylhet-centred tourism hub was synonymous with Jaflong, a hill station nestled amid fascinating scenic beauty. Now there are over a dozen spots around it.

Private tour operators are behind the new discoveries. Locals living around the remote and far-flung tourist spots are also seen making attempts to popularise the locations. It's because if tourism flourishes in the areas concerned, the local people will be benefited by income-generating activities. Bangladesh is a small country. But the country's tourism prospects are enormous thanks to its being a deltaic land, and crisscrossed by large and small rivers. Moreover, it has the world's largest mangrove forest. These distinctive features make the country a unique tourist destination. Bangladesh is no Mauritius, nor is it a Polynesian island-nation, the Balinese island in Indonesia or Langkawi archipelago in Malaysia. These countries and places try their best to highlight their tourist appeal. Bangladesh has its unique socio-cultural background and a distinctive style of hospitality, which has evolved through the ages.

The tourism sector in Bangladesh has for long been operating in an amateurish, rudderless manner. Whatever progress it made had been possible through individual initiatives. The Eid and winter travels to different spots throughout Bangladesh, holidaying in the Sundarbans or on the St Martin's Island, visiting the far-away areas deep in the Bandarbans and the other two CHT forest districts --- all of these tours would be undertaken by spontaneous initiatives. It had been the norm even a decade back. Now that the Bangladesh Tourism Board and the Parjatan Corporation have started taking proactive roles in promoting domestic tourism, a semblance of discipline appears to be in place. Tourism is now a formally recognised revenue earning area. The total contribution of travel and tourism to the national GDP of Bangladesh was Taka 809.6 billion (4.7 per cent of the total GDP) and is forecast to rise by 6.4 per cent per annum to Taka 1,596.0 billion (5 per cent of the total GDP) in 2026. Revenue in the travel & tourism market is projected to reach US$ 1,853.00m in 2023: World Travel and Tourism Council.

Following the 2-year Covid-19 lockdown, the country has started showing signs of regaining its footing in the tourism sector. The steady growth of the domestic tourism of Bangladesh in the last one-and-half years stands proof of its future course --- confident and apparently unhindered. In the recent times, tourists move around the country throughout all seasons --- especially in winter. People pick this season due to its dry nature. It's cool in temperature and is normally free of rain. A section of people love to set out for tour ventures during the season of monsoon. Most of them love to see the sea amid rain, and the beaches and trees drenched in rainwater. The average people are found avoiding the sizzling summer time. Unlike in many other countries, the growth of tourism in Bangladesh remains constrained by scores of hindrances. The most acute of them is related to easy and affordable communication. The newly built Padma Bridge has alleviated the ordeals tourists once had to pass through while making trips to greater Khulna. The Sundarbans mangrove forest is located in this region. The country needs more express trains, special long-haul tourist buses and launches to help people connect with distant tourist spots. The completion of the Cox's Bazar-Gundum (Bandarban) railway is expected to bring about radical changes in tourist movement in

shihabskr@ymail.com