Govt's support to tourism urged

Entrepreneurs have urged the government to take initiative to develop tourism as the sector is facing a number of problems. They said, across the world the private sector plays a very important role in developing tourism. With the government steps, private sector should come forward to develop the country's natural and historical places.

They were speaking at a workshop on tourism titled Destination Management Plan for Bandarban Hill District in Bangladesh held at Lakeshore Hotel in the city. Rashed Khan Menon, Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, said, government has taken a number of steps for enriching tourism sector. 

Private ventures are important for the development of the tourism industry. He said due to various problems we could not properly use natural beauty of Bandarban. We need more private enterprises' cooperation with government initiative, he added.

Professor Dr Abdul Barkat, Department of Economics of Dhaka University, said, for development of the tourism sector we have to go for branding and image building. "In recent time tourism has become an important generator of local incomes and jobs."

He further said the government should take initiative to develop tourism attractions and create linkage with other sector including agriculture, handicraft and commerce.

Kamal Uddin Talukder, Additional Secretary of Civil Aviation and Tourism ministry, said, it is widely admitted by development partners and other world communities that Bangladesh has earned the name and fame as role model of development.

He said we are now going to achieve MDGs goals with remarkable level of credibility. We are now getting preparation to attain all of the goals and targets of SDG. He also said, we have already formulated our action plan to achieve our goals well ahead of targeted time of 2030.

Dr Dhrupad Choudhury, Regional Program Manager of International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMoD), said, majority of the tourism related entrepreneurs in the country are small businessmen. Seasonality affects sustainability of their business, service quality is generally low and business knowledge is limited. He said, "Many businessmen don't have the required financial resources to expand their business."