Promoting new tourist attractions

In the last decade, the country has seen a huge surge in the movement of local tourists. Significant improvement in communications and comfortable transportation services, introduced mostly by the private sector, are instrumental in boosting tourist activities.

But most of the tourists thronged a handful of destinations like Cox'sBazar and Sajek. And in the peak seasons, these popular destinations cannot cope with onrush of tourists as infrastructural and logistical support are limited in these places. Naturally, it causes huge sufferings for the tourists and often many of them have to spend nights under open sky.

One of the solutions to this problem is to explore and promote new tourist destinations. One of those, for example, is Panchagar, from where one can enjoy the spectacular views of the Kanchanjangha, the third highest peak of the world. Panchagar also houses the only plain-land tea gardens, which offers magnificent and eye catching sights.

Tourism is one of the most potent sectors from which economy can be benefited immensely. It can generate huge employment and create both backward and forward linkage facilities.

Different sectors including transportation, communications, logistics, resorts, amusement, all cater to tourism. At present, around 50 lakh Bangladeshis are employed in the travel and hospitality sector in the country. But we lag behind our neighbours in this vital sector.

According to a survey, Bangladesh ranks 141st among 188 countries in the world and 42nd among 46 Asian countries in the index. Six of the eight countries of South Asia have been placed in the ranks where Bangladesh comes as fourth. The survey further said that last year, while 5.22 lakh foreign tourists visited Bangladesh, India received 6.19 million, Sri Lanka 7.19 lakh, and Nepal 6.14 lakh.

Recently, the Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) has finalised a tourism master plan which envisages 5.57 million foreign tourists annually by 2041 and creating 21.94 million jobs. But this objective will remain unfulfilled unless the country fails to increase the number of its tourist attractions and to improve the facilities.

If tourists have more options, they will be encouraged to spend their money in local destinations. Moreover, pressure on existing destinations will be eased. In fact, during the last ten years, many new destinations have been discovered by in the country but the authorities concerned have not taken necessary steps to improve infrastructures to facilitate tourism.

Panchagar, which has recently become a popular tourist spot, seriously lack proper accommodation facilities as the district town itself has only three decent hotels.

Similarly, another new tourist spot Jadukata, under Tahirpur upazila in Sunamganj, draws significant number of tourists every year for its beautiful surroundings and the largest Shimul Garden of the country but the place does not have any good residential hotel. Communication to this spot is also troublesome.

Statistics shows that around 3 million Bangladeshi tourists go abroad for tourism purposes. India alone attracts 60 per cent of these tourists. The Bangladeshi tourists spent a whopping Tk 336.87 billion in foreign countries. So, if the number of domestic tourists attractions can be raised, a significant amount of this money can be kept in home.

The authorities concerned should take immediate steps to address the obstacles like poor tourism infrastructure, complex visa policies, food adaptation problems, lack of amusements, social restrictions and inadequate direct flights and comfortable transportation facilities to promote domestic tourism.

Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) and Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB), under the civil aviation and tourism ministry, work for promoting and developing tourism sector of the country. But these organisations have failed to take due care of the new destinations. Interestingly, young travellers have done wonderful job in exploring and branding new destinations through social media like Facebook.

Contribution of this sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated at 3.02 per cent by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). In local currency, this amounts to Tk 76,690.7 crore. The sector also accounted for 8.07 per cent of total employment, according to the BBS' Tourism Satellite Account published two years ago.

It is imperative to raise the share of this sector to the GDP to attain the desired economic growth. And it is also high time for the authorities concerned to display dynamism and excellence by shedding age-old bureaucratic tangles. Promoting and branding new tourism destinations should be a priority to ensure sustainable growth of this sector.

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