New int'l airport at Cox's Bazar to draw foreign tourists: Quader
Monday, 18 May 2009
FE Report
The country will set up its fourth international airport in the resort town of Cox's Bazar to attract increasing number of tourists to the world's largest unbroken beaches, civil aviation and tourism minister GM Quader said Sunday.
"We are going to formulate a master plan on Cox's Bazar to develop our nascent tourism industry," Quader told a seminar at the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce Industry (DCCI) auditorium.
Under the master plan, the government would improve communication infrastructure in the southeastern resort town, add more hotels and motels, build facilities to treat wastages and upgrade the Cox's Bazar airport into a full-fledged international one.
Currently, only domestic airlines can land at Cox's Bazar's tiny airport. International tourists must land in the country's two main airports in Dhaka and Chittagong and take a domestic carrier to fly to the beach town.
The minister said up-gradation of the airport would boost tourists' arrival at Cox's Bazar, home to the world's largest unbroken beaches, draw local and foreign investment in its hospitality industry and create thousands of jobs.
Despite its unique natural beauty, mostly local tourists --- numbering around 1.6 million last year --- visit Cox's Bazar during the peak tourism season between September and April.
Presence of foreigners are far and few between owing largely to lack of quality hotels, safety concerns, rundown communication infrastructure and paucity of information on its uniqueness.
The minister said the Awami League-led government would abolish the tourism corporation after forming a regulatory board on the sector to spur its growth and monitor the industry.
All the agencies, stakeholders and private companies related to the tourism sector would be regulated by the board in an effort to ensure better services to local and foreign tourists, he said.
Quader said they would revise the tourism policy prepared in 1997 and allow undisclosed money to be invested in the infant sector. "The government will not raise any question for any such investment."
The minister ruled out any floating of Biman's share in the near future, saying the state-owned carrier need to make profit for at least two more years to be considered for its listing.
"We are going to float shares of Biman, but we won't privatise it. Biman will be under state's control," he said.
He said the government would invite fresh applications for the vacant post of Biman's chief executive officer as the authorities could not find a suitable candidate in its earlier search.
There is no possibility to change the name of Biman, rather 'a massive change' is likely in its administration to revive the fortune of the state-owned carrier, he added.
The country will set up its fourth international airport in the resort town of Cox's Bazar to attract increasing number of tourists to the world's largest unbroken beaches, civil aviation and tourism minister GM Quader said Sunday.
"We are going to formulate a master plan on Cox's Bazar to develop our nascent tourism industry," Quader told a seminar at the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce Industry (DCCI) auditorium.
Under the master plan, the government would improve communication infrastructure in the southeastern resort town, add more hotels and motels, build facilities to treat wastages and upgrade the Cox's Bazar airport into a full-fledged international one.
Currently, only domestic airlines can land at Cox's Bazar's tiny airport. International tourists must land in the country's two main airports in Dhaka and Chittagong and take a domestic carrier to fly to the beach town.
The minister said up-gradation of the airport would boost tourists' arrival at Cox's Bazar, home to the world's largest unbroken beaches, draw local and foreign investment in its hospitality industry and create thousands of jobs.
Despite its unique natural beauty, mostly local tourists --- numbering around 1.6 million last year --- visit Cox's Bazar during the peak tourism season between September and April.
Presence of foreigners are far and few between owing largely to lack of quality hotels, safety concerns, rundown communication infrastructure and paucity of information on its uniqueness.
The minister said the Awami League-led government would abolish the tourism corporation after forming a regulatory board on the sector to spur its growth and monitor the industry.
All the agencies, stakeholders and private companies related to the tourism sector would be regulated by the board in an effort to ensure better services to local and foreign tourists, he said.
Quader said they would revise the tourism policy prepared in 1997 and allow undisclosed money to be invested in the infant sector. "The government will not raise any question for any such investment."
The minister ruled out any floating of Biman's share in the near future, saying the state-owned carrier need to make profit for at least two more years to be considered for its listing.
"We are going to float shares of Biman, but we won't privatise it. Biman will be under state's control," he said.
He said the government would invite fresh applications for the vacant post of Biman's chief executive officer as the authorities could not find a suitable candidate in its earlier search.
There is no possibility to change the name of Biman, rather 'a massive change' is likely in its administration to revive the fortune of the state-owned carrier, he added.