Developing tourism in port city of Chittagong

During the Neo-Stone Age, Austro-Asiatic people had lived in Chittagong. Plinie, a Greek geographer, gave description of a place called Chris. Great historian Nalini Kanta Bhattashali identified that place as Sandwip of Chittagong. According to the geographers, Pentapolis called by Plinie is the ancient name of Chittagong.
Su La Taing Sandaya, king of the Chandra dynasty of Arakan, visited Chittagong in the year 953 AD and built a monument where 'Chet-Ta Goung' was engraved. The term means: 'To wage war is unbecoming'. And from this wise word the name of Chittagong has been derived.
For centuries the maritime place, Chittagong, has been abode of the Arabs, Arakans, Mughals, Portuguese and the English.
So the beauty of the sea-front city lies in the depth of its history and tradition, which has placed it apart from other regions of the country. In spite of such a rich history, there is little development worth mentioning about tourism by the government in what is called greater Chittagong that also encompasses Cox's Bazar tourist hub and Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari hill districts.
The region, adorned with green hills and forests, long sandy beaches and cool climate, always attracts holidaymakers.
But there is very little initiative to uphold the historic beauty of the country's port-and-commercial city of Chittagong to the tourists from home and abroad. With an excellent geographical location and natural harbour facilities like seaport, Chittagong could be developed to one among many modern tourist sites in the subcontinent if proper initiatives were taken.
 The country has enormous potential to develop tourism as one of the largest sectors to earn foreign exchange after the RMG (readymade garments) and manpower, leading tour operators said.
 The number of inbound tourists is increasing gradually. Tour operators said they do not need money from the government to develop the sector, they only need policy support. There are few initiatives of the government to develop tourism in Chittagong centring the Patenga and Parki sea beaches.
In Chittagong there is not even an office of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC), a government agency responsible to develop tourism spots as attractive places for the tourists.
There is no activity of the Parjatan Corporation in Chittagong, no hotel, no tourist bus and no tourist guidebook either. Unplanned development initiated by private-sector amusement operators in Chittagong has failed to meet the demand of the tourists.
There was Motel Saikat on the Station Road in the city which was demolished in 2004 for construction of a new-design building. But it is yet to be constructed.
Chittagong was once called queen of the East. It is full of delightful natural scenes, which in course of time have been covered with the huge-size bill-boards. The tourist spots have turned sick and subjected to negligence.
No recreation centre has been developed in Chittagong over the last 10 years for children as well. The children's amusement parks in Kazir Dewri, Agrabad and Bahaddarhat Bus Terminal areas have little attraction for children.
City-dwellers have demanded that CRB Railway area and DC Hill be turned into attractive tourist spots and cultural centres. Rather, dozens of commercial flower traders have illegally grabbed the DC Hill on three sides causing regular traffic congestion in the area.
It is the people's demand that those commercial nurseries be removed from the DC Hill but there is no such initiative from the district administration. The CDA (Chittagong Development Authority) took an initiative to develop a cultural centre on the DC Hill but backtracked on the move at interference of the government and the Ministry of Public Works and Housing.
Let us have a brief picture of a few tourist spots in Chittagong. Patenga Sea Beach is one of the most attractive places for tourists where one can take recourse to a recess to have a breath of fresh air. The beach is 22 kilometres away from the city heart and located at the juncture of the Karnaphuli River and the Bay of Bengal.     
Men and women of different trades and cultures gather here in the vast open of nature for a bit relief from a daily out of monotonous complexities of city life. Particularly, on holidays the number of visitors increases manifold.
Beside the road leading towards Patenga sea beach one will come across naval establishment, Karnaphuli EPZ, Oil Refinery and Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport. The beach keeps humming with sea-lovers. But there is no four-star or five-star hotel and other tourism facilities in the beach area. And for this lacking the beach could not attract foreign tourists.
Parki Beach is situated in Anwara upazila of southern Chittagong and is only 17-18 kilometres from the city. The government is reportedly thinking about developing tourism in the Parki Sea Beach. As the beach is situated at the Karnaphuli River channel, visitors can view both the river and the sea together. Tourists enjoy the sandy beach and views of big ships at the outer anchorage, fishermen catching fish in the sea, coloured crabs, sunset and the quiet environment.
Foy's Lake: It is only a few kilometres away to the north-west of the city. The lake was created in the natural environment in 1924 at the initiative of the Assam-Bengal Railway.
The lake has been created by building a dam at the dales beside the hills as per the plan and map chalked out by English Engineer Mr. Foy. A good number of hills and mountains are scattered all around the lake, as if nature gets united with the man-made artificial lake.
Concord Entertainment Ltd, a private tourism facilitator, has developed a number of amusement facilities in the Foy's Lake. The charming beauty of the lake always attracts viewers.  
War Cemetery is the place of graveyards of the warriors of the Second World War located in the city's quiet and picturesque Amirbag area. There are 755 graves of the great warriors who died in the region in the World War from 1939 to 1945. Here lie buried in eternal peace the soldiers from Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, Myanmar, East and West Africa, the Netherlands and Japan. They all laid down their lives on the Myanmar front in the Great War. Every year a good number of tourists visit the war cemetery.
Nature, with all her resources, has decorated the Chandranath Hills -- a dreamy land under Sitakunda upazila of the district, at a distance of 33 kilometres from Chittagong. The Dhaka-Chittagong Highway stretches over the upazila. From Sitakunda one can reach the Chandranath Hills either on foot or by a rickshaw. There is a famous pilgrimage of the Hindus of the sub-continent. Some tribal people also live in one portion of the hill range.
Crossing the carpeted road of Chandranath one will find innumerable steps that will lead the visitors to the peak of the Hills at a height of 457 metres. One can come across a unique sight of the rising sun from the peak of the Hill. Crossing the road heading towards the main Hill from Shankar Math (Monastery) one can find the trees in rows, bearing fruits and flowers. At the mid-hill of the Chandranath there flow the traditional fountains. Emerging from Chandranath Hill, water-falls join the Bay of Bengal after crossing a distance of five kilometres.
The government has taken up a massive plan to develop the Eco Park of Sitakunda and Chandranath Hills as one of the attractive tourist sites of the sub-continent.
Shrine of Hazrat Baizid Bostami, a great saint, is located in city's Baizid Bostami area near Chittagong Cantonment. The great priest came to Chittagong in the 10th century to spread the message of Islam. One can visit the ancient variety of Turtles in the big pond on the shrine premises. Tradition has it that the animals are the descendants of the evil spirits who were cast into this shape because they incurred the wrath of the saint. The shrine attracts a good number of visitors and pilgrims everyday.