BTB to survey foreign tourists' arrival in B'desh

FE Team | Published: September 21, 2012 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Talha Bin Habib
Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) will carry out a tourist survey soon to estimate probable foreigners' arrival in the country annually considering the prospect of the sector that could boost the country's economy, an official said.
The move has been taken by the board aiming to turn Bangladesh a middle-income country riding on the bright prospect of tourism sector.
"We (BTB) will carry out a survey this fiscal year (FY) 2012-13 to determine the growth of tourists' arrival in the country annually," Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BTB Akhtaruz Zaman Khan Kabir told the FE Thursday.
Citing examples of tourist arrival in the neighbouring countries, he said India, Myanmar and Malaysia have advanced much in the field.
Bangladesh's tourism sector has remained largely untapped, although the country is home to the world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans and the world's longest sea beach Cox's Bazar, among many other attractions.
He said that Bangladesh has also a bright prospect to draw more tourists here.
"We have taken a number of promotional activities to rightly project the country so that more international and local tourists come to visit historical spots and the longest sea beach in Cox's Bazar," he said.
He said that Bangladesh highly needs its own branding for drawing more tourists. We will engage expertise in tourism sector to this end.
Analysts say the tourism and hospitality industry may grow into one of the largest employers in Bangladesh. But it needs adequate policy support, investment and skill development.
The international tourism arrivals in Bangladesh was 2,67,000 in 2009, according to the World Bank report published in 2010.
But Bangladesh witnessed negative growth of 11.8 per cent in the month of November 2011.
Mr Kabir said that the BTB was chalking out elaborate programmes marking the World Tourism Day to be observed on September 27, 2012.
To mark the day, rallies and discussions will be held in the city and across the country.
Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Muhammad Faruk Khan will lead a rally scheduled to be start at 8:00 am from TSC of Dhaka University and will end at the National Press Club on the day.
The round table discussion will be held at the National Press Club. The discussion will be on "Tourism and Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development". Government officials, representatives from private sector of tourism development and concerned stakeholders will be present.
The WTO, in its projection, says tourist arrivals will pass the one billion mark by 2012 while the number was 940 million in 2010.