Government plans to identify tourism sites across all districts.
Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Afroza Khanam today said the government wants to identify potential tourism sites across all 64 districts as part of its efforts to establish Bangladesh as an international-standard tourism destination.
“We want to move forward with identifying potential tourism sites in all 64 districts and establishing Bangladesh as an international-standard tourism destination,” she said.
The minister made the remarks while addressing a seminar titled “Public-Private Partnership and Awareness Building for the Promotion of Eco-Tourism”, organised by the Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) at Parjatan Bhaban in the capital’s Agargaon area.
Afroza said the government is also considering developing tourism attractions around several villages, including Mitingachhari village in Kaptai upazila of Rangamati, Pankhali village in Dacope upazila of Khulna and Nafanagar village in Bochaganj upazila of Dinajpur.
The villages are among those being developed under the “SDG Village” initiative in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), she said.
Noting that Bangladesh has completed 55 years of independence but has relatively few notable achievements in tourism development, the minister said the government is working to establish the country as a tourism hub in line with its electoral commitment.
She said several initiatives have already been taken to develop the tourism sector during the government’s first five months in office.
“The journey towards establishing Bangladesh as a tourism hub will not be easy. We need all stakeholders beside us in this journey,” Afroza said.
Expressing optimism about the sector’s future, she said the government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, wants to move the country forward with the cooperation of all stakeholders.
The minister stressed the need to properly determine priorities while undertaking development initiatives and underscored stronger coordination between the government and private sector.
She said the ministry wants to sit with private-sector stakeholders every month to ensure that there is no information gap between government agencies and private-sector operators.
Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Fahmida Akhtar, ndc, said work on the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) has already begun to address the existing data gap in the tourism sector.
She said the government is also working to formulate an eco-tourism policy.
Referring to the lack of coordination in the past, Fahmida said stronger cooperation among stakeholders could help overcome the problem and accelerate development of the tourism sector.
Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation Chairman Md Samimuzzaman attended the seminar as special guest, while Bangladesh Tourism Board Chief Executive Officer (Additional Charge) Md Abdur Rouf chaired it.
The seminar discussed the importance and present state of eco-tourism in Bangladesh, challenges to its development, future action plans and measures required to promote the sector.
Prof Dr Md Wasiul Islam of the Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline at Khulna University presented the keynote paper.
