Short tour packages for business visitors suggested
Friday, 19 June 2015
Speakers at a roundtable recommended taking initiatives to turn foreign business visitors into tourists offering short tour packages matching their busy schedules in Bangladesh, reports BSS.
"Every fourth foreign visitor in the country was a business visitor (25 per cent) in last five years and it was 30 per cent in 2013," said Shoaib Akhtar, Research Associate of Bangladesh Foreign Trade Institute (BFTD) while presenting a paper at the roundtable discussion.He said a good number of foreign nationals are working in Bangladesh, including 20,000 in RMG sector, who usually do not visit country's tourist spots during their holidays.
BFTD and Tourism and Hospitality Management Department of Daffodil University jointly organised the round table on "Trade in Services: Tourists' attitude towards Bangladesh Tourism" at the BFTD auditorium at Karwan bazar on Wednesday in the city.
Mr Akhtar said the BFTD and Daffodil University will conduct a survey jointly among 370 business visitors in Bangladesh to get an idea of what kind of tour packages will attract them.
"We will give a special emphasis on decision making criteria for choosing a destination, preference of destination, types of trip, time and duration, reason, companions and financial aspects," he said.
The researcher said the study will cover some additional areas such as tourists' attitude toward visiting neighbouring countries and flow from those countries.
"The result of study will give us a guideline to motivate foreign business visitors toward local tourism," he said. Chairman of Tourism and Hospitality Management Department of Dhaka University Professor Dr Mujibudin Ahmed said there was no nightlife for foreign tourists in Bangladesh.
"I am not telling that we have to set up disco, casino or nightclub, but traditional cultural shows can be arranged by the government or hotel authorities every evening in Cox's bazar and other tourist spots to keep the foreign tourists busy," he said.Mentioning high business potential of Bangladesh tourism industry, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BFTD Ali Ahmed urged for conducting proper promotion at home and abroad for attracting more tourists.