In ancient times, intrepid travellers from Europe defied distance to admire and explore the region now called Bangladesh. With the passage of time technology improved and communication became easy, but the increase in the number of foreign visitors to Bangladesh on average has remained relatively low, especially so compared with the robust growth of the tourism sector in some countries in Southeast Asia - Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia, for example. Last year Bangladesh received only about 0.29 million foreign visitors while by contrast Vietnam received more than 4 million.

Bangladesh is rich in both natural and cultural heritage and its tradition of hospitality is a potential additional attraction for tourists and travellers. The pristine beauty of fauna and flora in Sundarban and Bandarban, the world's longest beach in Cox's Bazaar, the majestic panorama of sky, sea and sun in St. Martin's and Kuakata and the lush green in Sylhet are but few of the numerous features that are sure to capture the imagination of the visitor and make a lasting impression on him. With mosques, temples, churches, pagodas and prayer houses of indigenous people galore, the country boasts homogeneity of multi-ethnic cultures - something that testifies to the nation's openness.

It is true travel & tourism is not an unmixed blessing for every country. Sometimes foreign cultures can be invasive and irreparable damage can be done to historic sites. In Bangladesh there are quite a few World Heritage sites and they remain especially vulnerable but with proper management of the places the threat can easily be averted. As for culture, vulnerability of Bangladesh is out of the question given the enormous strength of the nation's cultural identity built over the course of hundreds of years. In fact, the benefits outweigh by a huge margin whatever curse there is of tourism, as far as Bangladesh is concerned. The country earned about $9 million in foreign exchange from travel & tourism in 2007 and with vigorous promotional activities it can hope to increase substantially its share of the multi-billion dollar international tourist receipts. Moreover, more tourists and travellers would most likely mean more trade and investment and therefore more growth of the economy.

Challenges

It is unfortunate that in the past Bangladesh had to witness political violence, steep corruption and religious fanaticism on its soil but what is more unfortunate is much of the stigma attached to the country's image resulted from irresponsible reporting by the media. With the new trend set, now it is time to prove the critics wrong-footed.

Besides ensuring lasting political stability and social security, Bangladesh needs to put in place the proper infrastructure before it can catch up with the countries in Southeast Asia or even outdo them in terms of tourist and traveller arrivals. Managing tourism involves a long supply chain - from transportation to accommodation to tour operation services - and tourists can be put off at any stage of the chain because of prevalence of any unfavourable conditions. This explains why a synergy of the relevant public and private organizations in Bangladesh is of utmost importance for boosting the tourism sector.

Another area that the service and hospitality sector in Bangladesh needs to be particularly mindful of is savoir faire in interacting with foreign travellers and tourists. An extra sheen in the locution of a hotel employee can make a huge difference in business. Most of the lapses that are complained of are partly due to training or lack of it. Training in communicative and behavioural skills by incompetent trainers is useless, can be counterproductive even, the trainee losing his natural ability to behave better.

Agri-tourism

In Bangladesh, life in huts hugging vast fields of luxuriant vegetation can hold special charm for those who are out there from far-off places to trace the link to the non-veneered past. The visitor may well experience the thrill of negotiating a muddy rise to get to the yard at the top where stacks of hay hide the view of women tending to the harvested crop. Or his adventure may take him to a slippery causeway across a swamp to see the peasants at the other end sow seeds with their mighty hands.

In fact prospects of agri-tourism, hitherto dimly realized, if at all, are enormous in Bangladesh. What is needed is a well worked out policy and a coordinated effort of the ministries concerned to implement it in collaboration with local operators. Videos and film footage should in the mean time be shown overseas through our foreign missions to familiarize foreigners with the rustic agricultural beauty of Bangladesh.

Hospitality

There is no exaggerating the importance of the role played by hotels, motels and resorts in promoting travel and tourism. Although the hospitality sector in Bangladesh has developed significantly over the years there still remains more to be done in terms of providing suitable accommodation, food and service, especially in remote areas of tourist attraction. However there are a few hotels that can claim to be excellent in their categories by international standards.

Pan Pacific Sonargaon: Strategically located between the two most important commercial hubs of Dhaka City - Motijheel and Gulshan -- the five-star hotel features some of the most modern facilities with an interior ambience evocative of a cultural Bangladesh. Most of its package tours are arranged in association with designated companies. Sonargaon's extensive renovation programme ends in about a month's time from now. Hotel Sarina: The five-star hotel at Banani, Dhaka, has long been a favourite resort for many international tourists and travellers. It offers excellent customer service, it has Sauna Jacuzzi among other amenities, its four different restaurants specialize in different types of cuisine and it arranges river cruises for its guests.

Radisson Water Garden Hotel: A conspicuous picture-postcard resort in the proximity of Zia International Airport, Gulshan and Baridhara Diplomatic Zone, Radisson is a landmark in the hospitality industry in Bangladesh. The five-star hotel known for its distinctive customer care tradition boasts Dhaka's first internationally managed spa - Sundaree Spa - among other state-of-the-art facilities. Its Blaze Entertainment Lounge & Bar where guests can indulge in a game of billiards is another attraction.

Dhaka Regency: Relatively new in the industry, the five-star hotel situated in close proximity to Zia International Airport has already achieved fame for the high quality and low price of its food and service. Its rooftop swimming pool and the grandeur of its rooms and restaurants are but some of the features that make it special. The business class hotel offers 'delegate packages' of different types.

Grand Prince Hotel: Although a 3-star hotel located at Mirpur, Dhaka, Grand Prince preserves a feeling of exclusivity in its category in terms of attracting foreigners. It features a fitness club, sauna and steam bath and a large conference hall, among other amenities. Located in close proximity to Mirpur stadium the hotel receives international football and cricket players on a regular basis.

The Peninsula Chittagong: Nestled snugly at a vantage point in the port city, Peninsula is the only 4-star luxury business hotel in Chittagong. It features a rooftop heated swimming pool and Jacuzzi, sauna & steam bath and golf course access among other state-of-the art facilities. Unrivalled in the field of providing customer service and satisfaction, as far as the hospitality industry in Chittagong is concerned, the hotel offers full package programmes for Golfers at Bhatiary Golf & Country Club.

Bangladesh Tour Operators Association

Hasan Mansur, president of Bangladesh Tour Operators Association, underlines the importance of the government framing a sound and practicable policy for the sector. The country has 92 tour operators and the government should be supportive to them. "Our role in tourism is very important. We work as a key player for tourists. We work as a chain; for example a tourist needs accommodation, transport, food and sight seeing and all these things are done by our tour operators."

We should learn from the strategies countries like Malaysia, Thailand and India have taken to boost their tourism industry, says Hasan. "Religion and culture won't be a barrier because the tourist who comes to Bangladesh comes with that mindset. He comes here to see our culture and different religious activities."

What is needed is encouragement for such activities.

Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation

It is often alleged that the performance of the government sector in promoting travel and tourism is lacklustre and the finger is usually pointed at Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC), the government body responsible for the sector. BPC PR manager Parvez A Chowdhuri, however, claims the corporation is now actively engaged in promotional activities. "We are now providing all the facilities to tourists; we guide them on where to go and how to go and we provide transport services and so on. For such information the tourist handbook published by the Executive Times has been very helpful."

Parvez blames the present poor status of the industry on the previous governments' nonchalance. "Lack of commitment [on their part] was the main barrier to developing this sector." He informs ET that Parajatan will hold fairs and undertake various other promotional activities in the near future.r

ET Travel & Tourism Desk
Photo: courtesy of BPC