Tourism Master Plan formulation kicks off

[Black_cats]

Tourism Master Plan formulation kicks off

https://www.bssnews.net/?p=336283


DHAKA, Jan 19, 2020 (BSS) – The government today formally launched formulation of much-awaited “Tourism Master Plan” for next 20 years, aspiring to turn the travel and leisure sector into the 3rd largest economic engine of Bangladesh after garments and remittance.

The tourism master plan, to be completed by June next year, is expected to create a distinctive brand image of Bangladesh as a popular tourist destination in the world in line with the country’s Vision 2041, to become a developed nation.

Besides, the master plan will contribute to the economic transformation of Bangladesh and achievement of the Sustainable Development goals (SDGs)

This was revealed today at the official kick-off meeting regarding tourism master plan formulation at CIRDAP auditorium in the city where State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali spoke as the chief guest.

The plan will be based on sustainable development of existing and new tourism products without interrupting the cultural diversity, lifestyle and beliefs.

An investment strategy will be included in the master plan projects and suggestive measures will be prepared for promotion and marketing of Bangladesh tourism.

Ali said the plan will formulate short-term (three-year), mid-term (five-year) and long-term (15-year) initiatives with emphasis on identification and development of tourism products and their diversification with an assessment of infrastructure, marketing and investment opportunities
The entire master plan will be formulated in three phases- situation analysis of tourism, preparation of strategic master plan and final tourism master plan, he said.

IPE Global, an Indian-based tourism consultancy firm, in collaboration with Horwath HTL, a global leader in hotel tourism and leisure consulting, and two national firms BETS and At Earth has been awarded for formulating the master plan by June 30, 2021.

Senior Secretary of Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mohibul Haque spoke as the special guest while Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) CEO Dr Bhubon Chandra Biswas was in the chair.

IPE global team leader Benjamin Carey and deputy team leader Prof Nurul Islam Nazem of Dhaka University’s Geography Department made separate presentations on different aspects of formulating the master plan.

Haque said that the master plan would be developed as per Bangladesh context and a monitoring team of the ministry has been formed to supervise the task.

Mentioning that presently the tourism sector is contributing 2 percent to the county’s total GDP, the secretary said the government has a goal to increase the tourism GDP contribution up to 10 percent after formulation of the master plan.

In first few months, Carey said that he would listen from different tourism stakeholders of Bangladesh and pay visit to all 64 districts to get a clear understanding of Bangladesh.

After that, Carey said, he will start formulating the plan with his prior experience of working in tourism sectors in nearly 50 countries around the world.

He was involved in formulating of tourism master plan of Scotland, Sierra Leon, Rwanda and Yemen.

 

[Samurai_assassin]

Apart from big bustling crowded cities and rural green landscape what other natural features does Bangladesh have? I mean this with no disrespect.

 

[UKBengali]

Apart from big bustling crowded cities and rural green landscape what other natural features does Bangladesh have? I mean this with no disrespect.

Sylhet tea gardens, Sundarbans and Coxs Bazaar Beach( longest sandy beach in world?.

The plan will take 20 years to complete and so plenty of time for BD to get much wealthier, better infrastructure and of course cleaner so tourists find the country attractive.

 

[Microsoft]

Sylhet tea gardens, Sundarbans and Coxs Bazaar Beach( longest sandy beach in world?.

The plan wi take 20 years to complete and so plenty of time for BD to get much wealthier, better infrastructure and of course cleaner so tourists find the country attractive.

Tea gardens and beaches aren't unique if I was touring I'd go next door to India for stuff like that and more. BD needs something unique maybe some sort of canal infrastructure to mimic Venice or windmills like Netherlands, something else not found in neighbors or maybe the world.

 

[UKBengali]

Tea gardens and beaches aren't unique if I was touring I'd go next door to India for stuff like that and more. BD needs something unique maybe some sort of canal infrastructure to mimic Venice or windmills like Netherlands, something else not found in neighbors or maybe the world.

A 70 mile beach is unique dude.

Tea gardens and beaches aren't unique if I was touring I'd go next door to India for stuff like that and more. BD needs something unique maybe some sort of canal infrastructure to mimic Venice or windmills like Netherlands, something else not found in neighbors or maybe the world.

Well if you want to visit a Muslim country as a lot of Asian Muslims from places like Indonesia/Malaysia will want to do then you will choose BD over India.
BD cannot make stuff that does not exist and so will also just have to rely on building very good infrastructure, cleaniless and generally becoming as tourist friendly as possible.

 

[Microsoft]

A 70 mile beach is unique dude.




Well if you want to visit a Muslim country as a lot of Asian Muslims from places like Indonesia/Malaysia will want to do then you will choose BD over India.
BD cannot make stuff that does not exist and so will also just have to rely on building very good infrastructure, cleaniless and generally becoming as tourist friendly as possible.

99.999% of tourists don't care if it's a 1 mile beach or 200 mile beach as long as water is clear and sand is soft and for that there are plenty of options in neighboring countries.

lol now BD is a Muslim country? Every thread it changes to something else.

The stuff I suggested is obviously difficult but it is relevant to BD considering its geography. Of course they may not be feasible but you would have to give more examples of tourist attractions for anyone to pick BD over neighbors. Even India is trying to clean itself up and build infrastructure, what sets BD apart?

 

[fallstuff]

Dhaka's traffic is one of a kind, there is nothing like that in the known universe !
Its time to hawk that as a tourist attraction !

 

[Michael Corleone]

Tea gardens and beaches aren't unique if I was touring I'd go next door to India for stuff like that and more. BD needs something unique maybe some sort of canal infrastructure to mimic Venice or windmills like Netherlands, something else not found in neighbors or maybe the world.

Things are improving now
There are shitbox of places in Dhaka and then there are places where women drive wagon, son drives porches/ lamborghinis and Ferrari’s. Where one cup of tea cost 30$ so this is just a plan to improve tourism sector and obviously when they’ll implement it, more things will be made

 

[bluesky]

Dhaka's traffic is one of a kind, there is nothing like that in the known universe !
Its time to hawk that as a tourist attraction !

I do not see a strong international tourism prospect in the short term. The country is too unclean and unsystematic for their massive visits. BD will do better to build infrastructures in a way that attracts domestic tourists. It will be a good industry where money will change hands and more people will be employed.

 

[Saiful Islam]

Tea gardens and beaches aren't unique if I was touring I'd go next door to India for stuff like that and more. BD needs something unique maybe some sort of canal infrastructure to mimic Venice or windmills like Netherlands, something else not found in neighbors or maybe the world.

St Martins Island and the many chars that come off our coast (about 29 Islands), Blue water and relatively gold-ish sand.
Abundance of resorts popping up near the Tea Gardens of Sylhet/Moulvibazar + the country side of Sylhet,
Sonargoan City (Panam), Chittagong, not just the hill tracts but plenty of unique things to offer.

Many waterfalls, Jaflong, etc etc.

Unfortunately Dhaka caught the spotlight breaking records, not the best ones and is now a face of the country, for what reason I don't know but maybe centralization is the problem.

BD doesn't have touts, or many scam artists that maybe because of absence of tourism industry. Women tourists would probably be able to stroll safely in most localities except for Dhaka, being a capital that is a given.

 

[Microsoft]

St Martins Island and the many chars that come off our coast (about 29 Islands), Blue water and relatively gold-ish sand.
Abundance of resorts popping up near the Tea Gardens of Sylhet/Moulvibazar + the country side of Sylhet,
Sonargoan City (Panam), Chittagong, not just the hill tracts but plenty of unique things to offer.

Many waterfalls, Jaflong, etc etc.

Unfortunately Dhaka caught the spotlight breaking records, not the best ones and is now a face of the country, for what reason I don't know but maybe centralization is the problem.

BD doesn't have touts, or many scam artists that maybe because of absence of tourism industry. Women tourists would probably be able to stroll safely in most localities except for Dhaka, being a capital that is a given.

That's more like it that's what should be advertised.

 

[ghost250]

Sylhet tea gardens, Sundarbans and Coxs Bazaar Beach( longest sandy beach in world?.

The plan will take 20 years to complete and so plenty of time for BD to get much wealthier, better infrastructure and of course cleaner so tourists find the country attractive.

@Microsoft

 

[bluesky]

Our people generally think western tourists want to stay in 5-star hotels. Contrary to what we believe, with a very busy life in their own country infested with concrete jungles, they may like to get back their peace of mind by staying in cottages local style for a few days and watch the sea waves for a leisure life without getting busy.

While sleeping in a cottage with their families they may prefer to enjoy listening to the whistling sounds of the night breeze over the sea. I have seen also a number of swimming pools inside the resort out under the sky. I have also seen a kind of ceremony for newlywed honeymoon couples. They go through the marriage ceremony again and all the young couple enjoys it. The ceremony is exclusively for them.

Our people talk incessantly about a 100-km beach which has no real value. With less than one km but with many attractive facilities inside a resort, the tourists can forget their busy life while enjoying sleeping in the bamboo cottage, swimming in the pools or playing tennis or doing windsurfing in the artificial sea-pond without big waves.

Japanese tourists may not like to visit BD. They go to Hawaii, stay in big hotels, eat Japanese foods in Japanese restaurants, buy souvenirs from Japanese shops and take many smiling pictures. After coming back they would call their friends how joyful was their Hawaii trip although it was almost like going to some part of Japan.

I am not sure about the Chinese people if they will like to visit or not. But, BD has one big drawback. Western people, Chinese or Japanese may not visit the sea beach from December to February because the water is still cold. These people want to escape the cold weather in their respective countries. Will they visit a beach that is also cold? They will choose South Pacific or Indian Ocean islands more south or even Thailand/Malaysia.

 

[mb444]

99.999% of tourists don't care if it's a 1 mile beach or 200 mile beach as long as water is clear and sand is soft and for that there are plenty of options in neighboring countries.

lol now BD is a Muslim country? Every thread it changes to something else.

The stuff I suggested is obviously difficult but it is relevant to BD considering its geography. Of course they may not be feasible but you would have to give more examples of tourist attractions for anyone to pick BD over neighbors. Even India is trying to clean itself up and build infrastructure, what sets BD apart?

Dont know how many countries you been to but from my experience ppl do research before going anywhere.

All BD needs to do to attract tourists is to sort out its infastructure same as anywhere else.

BD has unique food culture etc but these are irrelevant. To attract profitable tourists all you need to ensure is that they can get to the hotel, primary locations and back to airport easily. BD can become a tourist hotspot with a bit of effort. However good news for BD is that its internal tourist sector is growing and it should try to exploit this as much as possible as to be honest the amount of infastructure spend to get BD yp to standard.of lets say Malaysia is not going to happen overnight.

 

[Bilal9]

Sylhet tea gardens, Sundarbans and Coxs Bazaar Beach( longest sandy beach in world?.

The plan will take 20 years to complete and so plenty of time for BD to get much wealthier, better infrastructure and of course cleaner so tourists find the country attractive.

We have unique water features like Sylhet Haor areas and Ratargul swamp forest and of course like you said, the Sundarbans.

Beach areas need to be developed like Mexico developed their resorts. They have not much more than we have but there was interesting development and investment like zipline tours, eco parks etc.