A study on development strategies of tourism in Bangladesh

Abstract

Tourism has grown from the pursuits of a privileged few to a mass movement of people with the urge to discover the unknown environment, to undergo new experiences and the desire to be both educated and entertained. Tourism, today, has become a very emerging and the fastest growing industry both in the global and rural economy, and particularly in the developing countries. The importance of tourism as an instrument of economic development and employment generation is recognized all over the world. The data released by different global bodies, including the World Tourism Organization (WNWTO) indicate significant contribution of tourism to country's GDP and foreign exchange reserves. Bangladesh is a land of scenic beauty of verdant forests, reverie countryside and long structures of sun-bathed beaches, fearsome wilds, meandering rivers and venerable shrine, which hold high potential for tourism. This country needs proper strategy and policy to attract both foreign and domestic tourists. Government as well as private sectors may come forward to create the base of the tourism industry. Though BPC and other private sectors are playing an important role for the development of tourism in Bangladesh, it is not enough to compete with many other tourist destination countries. Given the potential that prevailed in Bangladesh in terms of the country’s possession of a diversified tourism product-base and also given the congenialities created by the objective conditions, tourism industry of Bangladesh has not grown to the desired level. Therefore, it is important to examine to what extent the country was proactive satisfactorily to capture tourism opportunities in a meaningful way. Against the above backdrop, the study focuses on the issues relevant to the development strategies and the development of tourism industry in Bangladesh. It presents the findings of surveys undertaken in the course of the study and throws light on the profile, preferences and perceptions regarding Bangladesh as a tourist destination country of the foreign tourist to coming Bangladesh, Executive of BPC, Members of TOAB, and Managers and Receptionist of Hotel & Restaurants in Bangladesh. In each section, the study also highlights the areas of weakness where priority should be given if Bangladesh is to promote herself as a destination in the global tourism market. In addition, this report also examines the association between destination dimension parameters index for Bangladesh and other neighboring countries to reveal the values of seventy nine variables, based on the data released by the World Economic Forum in its Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013. A modest attempt in the study has been to delineate the analysis of the tourism master plan aimed at bringing the economy to a higher growth path and making it more competitive, flexible and adaptable and the analysis of the present situation of the tourism sector in Bangladesh to catch the real picture existing in the industry. To draw tourism development goals and objectives, the analysis of Bangladesh tourism vision, starting points for future tourism development, global and regional trends, competitive destinations and SWOT analysis have also been considered. Finally, this research comments on the development of a comprehensive tourism strategy and implementation that will guide in developing a tourism sector giving importance to forming of a strong and sustainable economy throughout Bangladesh. A set of recommendations have also been put forward for sustainable development of tourism industry in Bangladesh.