Negative environment for tourist

A newspaper report yesterday carried a pragmatic presentation and rather soft evaluation of our somewhat negative tourism environment. Possibly it is our shyness and the lack of language access with tourists that add further to the problems faced by a tourist in Bangladesh. Unfortunately tourism authorities; apart from being a modest hotelier, cannot do much about our people's attitude. Although we have about a dozen tourist spots; the reality remains that the environment overall is not so tourist-friendly. In some cases, proper security is lacking.

Starting from the airports where overseas tourists arrive, arranging a transport is a hassle; and the taxi fares to the city centre is prohibitive for most of the tourists who are by and large the bulk of the tourists coming here.

Travelling on our inter-city buses both public and privately operated, leaves much to be desired. Firstly, there is no provision for taking luggage in such buses except for those operated by the few tourist organisations. Also seating in public road buses is so cramped and the buses being totally non-air conditioned; the journey say from Dhaka to Rajshahi, turns out to be a long and tiring exercise. No reasonable restaurant or drinking water is usually available throughout the journey. Travelling by our launches or steamers, both public and private, is also an exhausting experience. The less said about the on-board food, the better. Getting on board a private launch by rickety planks from the muddy and slippery river bank to the deck is a dangerous experience. A similar experience concerns eating out. In most towns in Bangladesh except Dhaka and a few in Chittagong, there is practically no clean and presentable restaurant where one can have a meal. And finally tourists, particularly foreign tourists suffer from lack of privacy, they feel embarrassed when local people throng around them and gaze in a manner as if they have come from the museum or from a different planet.            

Given this reality, tourists do not find Bangladesh a nice destination to come. This more or less sums up the major disadvantages tourists face when touring Bangladesh.

Engr S A Mansoor

Dhaka.