National Desk: Despite the lack of necessary policies, comprehensive plans, and state patronage, the tourism industry in Bangladesh is developing tremendously. There are at least forty-five lakh professionals working in this industry in all sectors. The number of people dependent on this industry is directly and indirectly at least two crores. In a country of 200 million people, there is no opportunity to underestimate the industry on which about 20 million people depend. But the tourism industry in Bangladesh has not got as much importance as it has demanded till date. As a result of not giving importance to the tourism industry, there seems to be a reluctance to determine the overall amount of damage to the macro-economy of the country including the concerned sector.
Although there is no lack of sincerity at the policy-making level, the situation in Bangladesh is very fragile due to the existing limitations. The dream of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to build Bangladesh Tourism Corporation in building post-independence Bangladesh remains elusive even today. Bangladesh would be one of the most popular tourist destinations in South Asia if Sujla-Sufla and the beautiful rural life like the picture could be presented to the world. There was also ample opportunity to improve history, heritage, archeology, and religious tourism. There is no need to dream to understand where the economy and identity of Bangladesh could have reached by focusing only on tourism. It is enough to look at the neighboring countries like India, Nepal, and even Bhutan.
The Himalayas are the main tourist attraction of Nepal. Small insignificant destinations have also been developed to attract Himalayan tourists. It has increased tourism activities in the destinations through effective planning for the development and expansion of the tourism sector. Such as rafting on the Trishuli river, bungee jumping at Last Resort, jungle safari at Chitwan Village, etc. Neighboring countries India is full of geographical diversity. It is said that India is half the world. The country has almost all the tourist attractions of the world from mountains, hills, rivers, seas to deserts. The country, which is rich in tourist attractions, has not been able to become as prosperous in tourism as it could have been in reality.
But over the past decade, the tourism industry has focused, doing well in research and development. It is expected that after 2030, India will be able to strengthen its position in global tourism. It is to be noted that Bangladesh ranks first in the number of foreign tourists visiting India. The second-highest number of foreign tourists in the country comes from America. Medical tourism has made the biggest contribution to the development of sustainable tourism in India. India is one of the countries that has done well in medical tourism in recent times.
Bhutan tourism policy is exceptional compared to others. They are different from the rest of the world in terms of peace, prosperity, and tourism. GDH growth is gaining importance in a world where Bhutan is restless with its own GDP growth. In other words, they believe in Gross Domestic Happiness rather than Gross Domestic Production. In order to protect their peace and culture from foreign cultural aggression, they are imposing more costs on tourists from outside the SAARC countries. However, the number of foreign tourists in Bhutan is increasing day by day.
Bangladesh does not have the highest peaks like Nepal, does not have geographical diversity like India, does not have an exceptional culture like Bhutan. The small delta has the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, the world’s largest uninterrupted beach, Cox’s Bazar, St. Martin’s Coral Island, Haor, Baor, Reservoir, Lauachhara, as far as the eye can see. There are rows of green hills, all important places of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. The sad fact is that we have not been able to properly market Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest uninterrupted beach, the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Besides, there are so many tourist attractions in the country that if developed and marketed in a tourism-friendly manner, Bangladesh would be an important and popular tourist destination in Asia like Nepal, India, Bhutan, Maldives, or Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia. Undoubtedly, we have failed miserably to pay the necessary attention to turning the seeds of the tourism industry into trees, and the pace of efforts to alleviate this failure is very slow.
But if an integrated tourism industry was developed, Bangladesh would have already become a middle-income country. The standard of living would have improved, per capita income would have increased, the rate of education would have increased. On the other hand, low poverty and unemployment rates. Bangabandhu built the Bangladesh Tourism Corporation in a war-torn independent state based on his foresight. As much as he realized the importance of the tourism industry almost half a century ago, it has not been properly implemented even after half a century.
Even the realization that tourism is an exportable industry has not emerged nationally. Today is the time to introspect, why there is a huge potential for tourism in Bangladesh of 56 thousand square miles, why it is still in its infancy, why even after fifty years of independence, tourism is not getting state status and getting state patronage. Despite the lack of sincerity of those involved in tourism, why is there no good day in tourism?
Abu Raihan Sarkar,
Executive Director,
Bangladesh Tourism Research Institute (BTRI)
