Sustainable tourism
Sunday, 5 October 2008
World Tourism Day was observed across the world on September 27. Tourism, which is an integral part of an economy, is also a major employment-generating sector in many countries.
Bangladesh is nowhere near the most competing tourist destinations of the world. It does not earn any sizeable part of its foreign exchange from tourism. This is not that the country does not have attractive natural beauty spots. The mangrove forest of the Sundarbans and the longest sea beach in the world at Cox's Bazar are its assets. But so far we could not reap much benefits from these spots. The reasons are clear - inept management, absence of imaginative planning and poor state of law and order. Three things are important in tourism promotion. These are - product development, marketing and security of tourists. All these are responsibilities of the government to facilitate or to provide. The government has to develop the tourist spots; it has to let the world know that the country is a prospective destination and it has to arrange the security of tourists - both local and foreign. In all these areas, the performance of the government has been poor.
Recently, the government has announced that the businesses which are now run by state-owned Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) will be handed over to the private sector. This is a good move, but not enough. Tourism for us means inflow of cash from the rich countries to ours. The gain is immediate and tangible. Investment in this sector will be rewarding on all counts. So this sector should be developed with utmost sincerity so that its unplanned development does not affect the environment.
Ahmed Hossain
Dhanmandi R/A, Dhaka
Bangladesh is nowhere near the most competing tourist destinations of the world. It does not earn any sizeable part of its foreign exchange from tourism. This is not that the country does not have attractive natural beauty spots. The mangrove forest of the Sundarbans and the longest sea beach in the world at Cox's Bazar are its assets. But so far we could not reap much benefits from these spots. The reasons are clear - inept management, absence of imaginative planning and poor state of law and order. Three things are important in tourism promotion. These are - product development, marketing and security of tourists. All these are responsibilities of the government to facilitate or to provide. The government has to develop the tourist spots; it has to let the world know that the country is a prospective destination and it has to arrange the security of tourists - both local and foreign. In all these areas, the performance of the government has been poor.
Recently, the government has announced that the businesses which are now run by state-owned Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) will be handed over to the private sector. This is a good move, but not enough. Tourism for us means inflow of cash from the rich countries to ours. The gain is immediate and tangible. Investment in this sector will be rewarding on all counts. So this sector should be developed with utmost sincerity so that its unplanned development does not affect the environment.
Ahmed Hossain
Dhanmandi R/A, Dhaka