Tourism development
Friday, 11 June 2010
The Cabinet on Sunday adopted a draft law for the development of tourism in the country. A ten-year-long mega plan would be made for the development of tourism sector in phases. It is envisaged that Bangladesh has the potential to earn a great deal of foreign currency by developing its tourism sector like the garments sector by using its geographic location and manifold bounties to attract hordes of foreign tourists interested in ecological, heritage-based and other forms of tourist attractions.
In the approved draft for tourism development, there is a provision to establish a tourism board like in Thailand for accelerating the sector's growth. There are also provisions for developing special tourist zones for foreigners as well as the development of 2,200 modern and attractive sites for tourists -- foreign as well as local ones. It is predicted that on full implementation of the mega plan, the number of foreign tourists could increase by some 4 million in the next ten years.
Indeed, tourism can be a very gainful sector for the economy if it can be properly developed. Some countries depend on tourism as their main sector of economy. To see the magic of tourism, we don't need to go very far from our home. Take the example of Maldives. Apparently, the entire Maldivian economy depends on tourism.
Bangladesh is a highly prospective markets for tourism. The numbers of tourist are increasing every year in Bangladesh. But it is also true that, the number of tourists in Bangladesh is not increasing at the world rate of tourism growth. Tourism experts observe that, in near future most of the world tourists will be from Asia, mostly from India and China. 73% of them will visit Asian tourists spots. If Bangladesh succeeds to gain a portion of this market, then it would be a great boost to its economy.
These prospects are showing the horizon for investors to invest in tourism sector. Investors can invest in establishing infrastructures like entertaining facilities, accommodation facilities, communication facilities etc. from the marketing perspective. Investors can create "one-stop" services for the ease of the visitors. There is scarcity of enough air routes between cities of our country. This can be a good sector for investment.
The government-operated Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) has suggested to the government to offer 10-year tax holiday for investors in the tourism sector. This merits a serious consideration. They also suggested changing the existing structure of BPC. There are also ideas of branding Bangladesh to the outer world. All of these suggestions and plans should be energetically pursued.
The spin-offs from tourism are multi-faceted. It creates direct and indirect employment in a large number of service industries and in the growth of these industries. The spending by foreign tourists can be a big booster for the country's foreign currency reserve. Considering these factors, the development of this sector indeed deserves special attention from the government.
In the approved draft for tourism development, there is a provision to establish a tourism board like in Thailand for accelerating the sector's growth. There are also provisions for developing special tourist zones for foreigners as well as the development of 2,200 modern and attractive sites for tourists -- foreign as well as local ones. It is predicted that on full implementation of the mega plan, the number of foreign tourists could increase by some 4 million in the next ten years.
Indeed, tourism can be a very gainful sector for the economy if it can be properly developed. Some countries depend on tourism as their main sector of economy. To see the magic of tourism, we don't need to go very far from our home. Take the example of Maldives. Apparently, the entire Maldivian economy depends on tourism.
Bangladesh is a highly prospective markets for tourism. The numbers of tourist are increasing every year in Bangladesh. But it is also true that, the number of tourists in Bangladesh is not increasing at the world rate of tourism growth. Tourism experts observe that, in near future most of the world tourists will be from Asia, mostly from India and China. 73% of them will visit Asian tourists spots. If Bangladesh succeeds to gain a portion of this market, then it would be a great boost to its economy.
These prospects are showing the horizon for investors to invest in tourism sector. Investors can invest in establishing infrastructures like entertaining facilities, accommodation facilities, communication facilities etc. from the marketing perspective. Investors can create "one-stop" services for the ease of the visitors. There is scarcity of enough air routes between cities of our country. This can be a good sector for investment.
The government-operated Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) has suggested to the government to offer 10-year tax holiday for investors in the tourism sector. This merits a serious consideration. They also suggested changing the existing structure of BPC. There are also ideas of branding Bangladesh to the outer world. All of these suggestions and plans should be energetically pursued.
The spin-offs from tourism are multi-faceted. It creates direct and indirect employment in a large number of service industries and in the growth of these industries. The spending by foreign tourists can be a big booster for the country's foreign currency reserve. Considering these factors, the development of this sector indeed deserves special attention from the government.