We welcome you with open hands.
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I believe our tourism industry can be a top foreign currency earner and apparently I'm not the only Bangladeshi to think this, according to menon - "Tourism industry can make the highest contribution to the country's economy by surpassing garments sector, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon has said." I believe this to be true too.
Menon: Tourism can be top foreign currency earner | Dhaka Tribune
However of course there are things that hamper our development. A few things that hamper our development...
Lack of investment, there is lack of investment from both public and private sector to make tourism a sustainable sector.
imagery of the country, this applies to both domestic and international news papers who report on Bangladesh, normally when something positive is happening, many western outlets wont report upon it however when something negative happens, rana plaza, sundurban oil spill, a lot of western news paper will report on it, this makes our country look bad. (I've only seen the Guardian report positive staff about Bangladesh, only the Guardian)
Religion, I think Americas wars/campagins against countries such as afghanistan and Iraq has helped stem this fear of muslims into westerners, I think people automatically associate muslims with terrorism now that, thats how the media over the portrays and hence people are likely to come to Bangladesh, a largely muslim country, which is also secular. (I can tell, we have youth who don't care much about the faith anymore, the country is becoming increasingly open minded, and people just aren't seeing it.)
Now, can it happen? Yes I believe soo.
Lack of Investment, Bangladesh has attracted a lot of investment from big names and big countries through various sectors. We have russians coming over to help us build a satellite (and launch it), russians gazprom has also signed a deal for a nuclear power plant in the country. We have chinese making headway into our country through the padma bridge construction, which they are building, chinese are increasingly investing in our country and want to help build the biggest sea port in south asia, Sonadia deep sea port. Indians are here too, building power stations, opening factories etc.) So I question why can we attract investors our tourism industry. I question this, what's the point of attracting loads of international hotels to come to Bangladesh (which it has done exceptionally well) when there is nothing else to offer, like theme parks, and other attractions. The hotels are a problem too, as they are mainly in big cities such as Dhaka and Chittagong. we need rules and regulations to be put into place to direct investment towards perserving our history, heritage and culture and making new attractions which can get international attention.)
Imagery of the country is being slowly challenged by our youth. Lovedesh.com is run by yasmin choudary and her goal is to present 3rd world countries in a positive light, she started as a website/blogger and now runs a tour operation business, where she sells packages to these countries, her main priority being Bangladesh, there is also the positivelight.Bangladesh campaign, which is a crowdsourced website, where Bangladeshis can post photos of Bangladesh and get it seen by the masses, they've nearly raised enough money, for a book.
Religion, we know religion can play a big and small facotr, but it really depends on the people, and their country, and what it has to offer, look at Egypt, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, Morocco, these are some of the hottest destinations for travellers and have been for a while, so I beg the question, why can'y Bangladeshi, if these muslim majority countries have a thriving sector, why can't we? I just read last week, Egypt and Greece signed a tourism partnership/circuit sort of thing where both countries will aid each other in promoting each others country, this is beneficial to both the countries, because of both the countries economic and political situation (which is bad) and I'm just like, why can't we have this with India and Myanmar... I thinks it's that lack or foreign relations between our country that doesn't allow the industry to flourish. We need a better SAARC and ASEAN for our area. Note: There has been many ideas put forward to intergrate our region, nepalis have asked for it, north eastern indians have asked for it.
Promoting inter-regional tourism | EDITORIAL | Financial Express :: Financial Newspaper of Bangladesh
I've actually been following Myanmar tourism industry for a while now. I think once India and Myanmar prospers, than Bangladesh will follow suit, all countries around Bangladesh have somewhat of a thriving tourism sector, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, India and now Myanmar, it saddens me to see Bangladesh not flourishing as much as it's counterparts in the region, where not jumping aboard... But I think that will slowly change
I would like to congratulate Myanmar on it's boom of tourism 2-3 bln earned this (last) year alone, wow. I heard many australians and thais are coming to your country, that's great. I think Bangladesh needs to attract tourist from our region first before it can go international.
Somethings I would like to see happening between Bangladesh and Myanmar, Better cooperation in all sections, including Tourism.
A ferry route from Bangkok, via, yangon and than too coxs baxar or kuakata. An inland route (road.train) similar to this ferry route.
A buddhist tourism circuit, which involves India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand.
A bridge from Cox's bazar to Maungdaw.
I'd like to also see an ease of Visa restrictions, and products restrictions and freedom of momment rules and regulations from our countries.
Imagine this, a tour package from Bagan, to Coxs bazar, people can take in the culture of Myanmar and than take in the culture of Bangladesh and relax.
all in all,
We need better investment, promotion and more tolerance towards tourists. When all of this happens our industry is bound to flourish, I mean look at your industry, it's a fine example of how to attract tourists.