Bangladesh is a beautiful lush-green riverine country with abundant gifts of nature. The country is also rich in Buddhist, Hindu and Mughal cultural heritage. The spots that bear a testimony to this heritage may attract millions of tourists and visitors from around the world. Among numerous eye-smothering natural beauty spots, the world's largest mangrove forest Sundarbans and the relics of the greatest Buddhist monastery are located here. It is no exaggeration to say that the entire Bangladesh is a unique spot of natural beauty and natural treasure that attracted Saints, travellers and adventurers in the past from far distant places. Its people are simple and hospitable. But of late the country has become less attractive to foreign tourists because of some untoward incidents that occurred in the recent past.
The government of the country declared 2016 a Tourism Year. It launched its campaign "Visit Bangladesh 2016" setting a target to double the number of foreign tourists to one million. Sources in the Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) and Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) earlier in the year said they had set a target to raise earnings from the sector by 20 to 25 per cent. But sources in the industry said the tourism sector of Bangladesh suffered a serious blow after the July 01 Gulshan café attack that left many people killed, including several foreigners. The earnings from the sector stood at 122.13 million US dollars during the January-October period of 2016 compared to 116.25 million US dollars during the corresponding period of 2015.
The earnings from the sector stood at 145.74 million US dollars in 2015. The earnings from the sector stood at 121.45 million US dollars in 2013, 100.75 million US dollars in 2012, 83.73 million US dollars in 2011, 79.83 million US dollars in 2010 and 83.9 million US dollars in 2009. The number of guests at posh hotels like the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Westin Hotel, Radisson Water Garden Hotel, Amari Hotel, Hotel Lake Shore, Hotel Sarina and La Meridian Hotel has dropped as top business leaders, Chief Executive Officers of multinational companies, leaders of donor agencies and non-governmental organisation (NGO) leaders have cancelled or delayed their trips to Bangladesh after the Gulshan tragedy.
A top manager of a five-star hotel while talking to a local daily said a number of guests cancelled their bookings against the backdrop of the Gulshan tragedy and other such incidents. He said similar acts of terror took place in Istanbul, Brussels, Paris and Mumbai but the situation there returned to normal soon after necessary steps taken by the governments concerned. About Bangladesh he said "The situation will improve (here also) after sometime. Political, social, cultural and religious leaders will have to work together to prevent recurrence of any such incident in future and bring back confidence of people". After the Gulshan café Bangladesh has found the global powers beside it in its fight against terrorism and violent extremism. It has prompted the country to "redouble" its efforts.
In the past the warnings of western countries about the travel of their citizens to Bangladesh and killings of Italian and Japanese citizens, bloggers and publishers cast a shadow on the tourism industry of Bangladesh, experts and sources said. According to statistics of Bangladesh Bank and the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC), despite political stability, a sound law and order situation and steady economic growth, earnings from the tourism sector dropped nearly 8.0 per cent in 2015. A high official of the BPC said the spending capacity of a western tourist is at least ten times higher than that of a South Asian tourist.
Several foreign tourists cancelled their scheduled visits to Bangladesh in 2015 against the backdrop of the killing of foreigners and the travel alerts issued by western governments. The CEO of Journey Plus said in 2015, "We got cancellation calls mainly from the British, American and Japanese nationals scared by the killing of bloggers, publisher and foreigners". The US, UK, Australia, and some western countries on several occasions issued warnings to their citizens about visiting Bangladesh after the killings.
However, experts in the sector have expressed the hope that the travel and tourism sector may post a positive growth if Bangladesh's missions abroad highlight the country positively, political stability is restored and warnings by western countries are lifted alongside proper policy support from the government for the tourism sector.
The sources in the industry said Bangladesh's missions abroad should mull appointing officials with proper training and knowledge about how to attract tourists. Such steps can help the country achieve its target of serving one million tourists per year by 2018, especially in the face of allegations that Bangladesh's embassy or high commission officials are not always cooperative in offering assistance, when approached. The first vice president of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh said, "The government should open a separate desk at each of Bangladesh's foreign missions to promote the sector abroad and appoint people with enough knowledge on tourism to those desks". He said the officials could be appointed from Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, Bangladesh Tourism Board or any other such organisations.
Such designated desks could help boost the tourism sector of the country, especially by attracting more businesspeople from abroad, especially from the western countries. The chief executive of Journey Plus said, "If not for all missions abroad, the government should make such appointments in at least 15 to 20 countries that account for 80 to 90 per cent of all tourists globally". The Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry has said that the appointment of people with adequate knowledge about tourism is already being discussed in the highest forum of the government. It has also said the government has instructed foreign missions to work efficiently to promote tourism. Apart from earning hard foreign currencies the promotion of the tourism sector is also necessary to acquaint this beautiful country and its people with the outer world.
The writer is a retired Professor of Economics, BCS General Education Cadre. sarwarmdskhaled@gmail.com
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