Tourism in Bangladesh.

[extra terrestrial]

I don't really care if Bangladesh never becomes a popular holiday destination for foreigners. We are a population of 175mil...and this population base covers every income group.

Our priority has to be and should be domestic tourism.

Bandarban
Sundarban
Cox's Bazaar
Sylhet

etc...

I travel to Cox's Bazar frequently and during peak season hotels in Cox's Bazaar are almost impossible to find and that includes places where a room will cost you $150 a night or a hostel charging $10 a night.

I went to Dusai Resort recently http://www.dusairesorts.com/ - it was expensive, yet the place was booked out. So, let's get internal/domestic travel/tourism up and running...and if we never become a tourist hub for foreigners, so be it.

Of course the growing middle class - now travel to neighboring countries for vacations (Thailand, India, Nepal, SL, Malaysia are very popular) - holiday packages are quite frankly very cheap. But, with the amount of public holidays in Bangladesh - there is ample opportunity for families to do their annual trip overseas AND take holidays internally.

Well, tourism industry is one of the largest in the world by revenue and a good medium to uphold the national image, something we have never taken seriously...

Honestly, there are enough natural ingredients to make Bangladesh a popular tourist destination but the biggest impediment is the poor infrastructure... A ride on the Chittagong-Cox's Bazar highway would reflect that thoroughly... Heck even after 45 years of independence, we couldn't even build railway tracks in Cox's Bazar which is the most popular tourist destination in the country!

 

[alaungphaya]

Myanmar is not a popular tourist destination though and I don't think it will ever be! Most of the tourists in Myanmar are from neighboring Thailand. It's natural that Myanmar gets more number of tourists than Bangladesh since their neighbor Thailand is quite richer than our neighbor India and thus the former has more outgoing tourists than the latter.

That's funny you should say that as Air Asia just announced a service to both Naypyitaw and Bagan will begin soon. You also seem to be confused. Our tourists are not Thais. Tourists come from Thailand. Many tourists come to Thailand and go on towards other SE Asian countries. That's how tourism in SE Asia works.

You don't have any of that. Even tourists who go to India don't think, "Hey, I'll go visit Bangladesh or Pakistan." You seem to not realise or recognise how your country is perceived.

 

[~Phoenix~]

@~Phoenix~ I know the mods tell people to report posts and posters...but, I just it easier to put people on ignore. Don't engage them - you won't see their posts and it'll make your experience here a lot more pleasant.

Thanks alot,Bhai.

 

[Species]

That's funny you should say that as Air Asia just announced a service to both Naypyitaw and Bagan will begin soon. You also seem to be confused. Our tourists are not Thais. Tourists come from Thailand. Many tourists come to Thailand and go on towards other SE Asian countries. That's how tourism in SE Asia works.

I don't know how Air Asia's announcement of opening service to those cities is relevant here, there are enough international airlines operating in Bangladesh as well or in any country in the world for that matter! Your tourists are mostly Thais, not all but almost all, while China, your other neighbor, also constitute a major portion of the international tourists to Myanmar. Besides, Myanmar doesn't have anything substantial to offer which is not present in Thailand, one of the major tourist destinations in the world.

You don't have any of that. Even tourists who go to India don't think, "Hey, I'll go visit Bangladesh or Pakistan." You seem to not realise or recognise how your country is perceived.

That's unsurprising, SAARC doesn't have the same mechanism as ASEAN, so the tourists coming to India would find it difficult to visit Bangladesh or Pakistan. About the perception of countries, I guess perception about Myanmar is not good either.

 

[TopCat]

Well, tourism industry is one of the largest in the world by revenue and a good medium to uphold the national image, something we have never taken seriously...

Honestly, there are enough natural ingredients to make Bangladesh a popular tourist destination but the biggest impediment is the poor infrastructure... A ride on the Chittagong-Cox's Bazar highway would reflect that thoroughly... Heck even after 45 years of independence, we couldn't even build railway tracks in Cox's Bazar which is the most popular tourist destination in the country!

Not so hurry. I don't want to loose our attention from manufacturing yet. Keep the wages low while increasing the share of manufacturing to 30% and employ more than 40% of the people to the industrial sector. Once we attain that goal we should focus more on the service industry.

 

[UKBengali]

Well, tourism industry is one of the largest in the world by revenue and a good medium to uphold the national image, something we have never taken seriously...

Honestly, there are enough natural ingredients to make Bangladesh a popular tourist destination but the biggest impediment is the poor infrastructure... A ride on the Chittagong-Cox's Bazar highway would reflect that thoroughly... Heck even after 45 years of independence, we couldn't even build railway tracks in Cox's Bazar which is the most popular tourist destination in the country!

BD government has just announced the building
of railway from Chittagong to Cox Bazaar to be
complete by 2022.

@AndrewJin

 

[alaungphaya]

I don't know how Air Asia's announcement of opening service to those cities is relevant here, there are enough international airlines operating in Bangladesh as well or in any country in the world for that matter! Your tourists are mostly Thais, not all but almost all, while China, your other neighbor, also constitute a major portion of the international tourists to Myanmar. Besides, Myanmar doesn't have anything substantial to offer which is not present in Thailand, one of the major tourist destinations in the world.



That's unsurprising, SAARC doesn't have the same mechanism as ASEAN, so the tourists coming to India would find it difficult to visit Bangladesh or Pakistan. About the perception of countries, I guess perception about Myanmar is not good either.

It's relevant for Bagan as that is a solely tourist destination. Do you think one of your historic sites is even close to having international airlinks? No. Don't be stupid.

We had close to 5million visitors last year. The growth has been exponential since we opened up. The average tourist spends more than they do in other countries in the region as they are generally more prosperous those that come. Thais make up a whopping 15% of international arrivals. Chinese barely 10%. I am willing to bet any amount of money that Indians make up a far greater number of your small international arrivals.

It is not a SAARC issue. Plenty of tourists head to India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. No one cares about a slave labour slum swamp that is now a terrorist hotbed. That's just a fact.

 

[AndrewJin]

BD government has just announced the building
of railway from Chittagong to Cox Bazaar to be
complete by 2022.

@AndrewJin

Chittagong in Chinese is 吉大港 ji da gang.
Gang means port, is it really a port?

 

[UKBengali]

It's relevant for Bagan as that is a solely tourist destination. Do you think one of your historic sites is even close to having international airlinks? No. Don't be stupid.

We had close to 5million visitors last year. The growth has been exponential since we opened up. The average tourist spends more than they do in other countries in the region as they are generally more prosperous those that come. Thais make up a whopping 15% of international arrivals. Chinese barely 10%. I am willing to bet any amount of money that Indians make up a far greater number of your small international arrivals.

It is not a SAARC issue. Plenty of tourists head to India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. No one cares about a slave labour slum swamp that is now a terrorist hotbed. That's just a fact.

Was that necessary?

Myanmar will always remain a more popular
tourist destination than BD for international
visitors. It cannot however compete when it comes to
domestic tourism as BD has 3 times the population.

I agree with you that Myanmar will always be more
popular than BD due to geography and culture.

Please can we discuss again in a courteous manner

Chittagong in Chinese is 吉大港 ji da gang.
Gang means port, is it really a port?

Yes. Major port of BD.

Soon it will be overtaken by Payra and that will almost
certainly be built by China.

 

[AndrewJin]

Was that necessary?

Myanmar will always remain a more popular
tourist destination than BD for international
visitors. It cannot however compete when it comes to
domestic tourism as BD has 3 times the population.

I agree with you that Myanmar will always be more
popular than BD due to geography and culture.

Please can we discuss again in a courteous manner



Yes. Major port of BD.

Soon it will be overtaken by Payra and that will almost
certainly be built by China.

It happened that our ancestors chose the best characters for this city
Ji 吉 auspicious
Da 大 great
Gang 港 port
吉大港 Auspicious Great Port!

 

[alaungphaya]

Was that necessary?

Myanmar will always remain a more popular
tourist destination than BD for international
visitors. It cannot however compete when it comes to
domestic tourism as BD has 3 times the population.

I agree with you that Myanmar will always be more
popular than BD due to geography and culture.

Please can we discuss again in a courteous manner



Yes. Major port of BD.

Soon it will be overtaken by Payra and that will almost
certainly be built by China.

I didn't want to take an aggressive tone but I was explaining to your friend @Species

 

[UKBengali]

I didn't want to take an aggressive tone but I was explaining to your friend @Species

Ok, he should have maybe worded things differently
to try to explain his point.

I am sure that both BD and Myanmar can benefit if we
thought about one-visa system for international tourists so they can visit both Myanmar and BD at same time.

A package where tourists get to see tigers in Sundurbans, river cruise down the large rivers in BD and also visit to see historic sites in Myanmar would be popular. This is something that India and BD are already
working towards.

 

[alaungphaya]

Ok, he should have maybe worded things differently
to try to explain his point.

I am sure that both BD and Myanmar can benefit if we
thought about one-visa system for international tourists so they can visit both Myanmar and BD at same time.

A package where tourists get to see tigers in Sundurbans, river cruise down the large rivers in BD and also visit to see historic sites in Myanmar would be popular. This is something that India and BD are already
working towards.

I doubt that would ever happen. We inhabit different tourist eco systems. You would be better off trying to come to an arrangement with India.

 

[UKBengali]

I doubt that would ever happen. We inhabit different tourist eco systems. You would be better off trying to come to an arrangement with India.

Maybe but some tourists may like the variety in one trip.

Anyway this probably wont work till say 2025 anyway
as BD needs to build infrastructure to make the experience of tourists fast and comfortable.

 

[alaungphaya]

BTW I forgot to add that we host the world's largest tiger reserve.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukawng_Valley_Tiger_Reserve