Promotional measures in developing tourism industry in Bangladesh: An empirical study

Abstract

Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Many countries are now considering the tourism industry as an important sector for their economies. This importance has necessitated the destination countries to adopt appropriate and effective promotional measures to remain competitive and attract sufficient number of tourists to their destinations. Bangladesh is no exception to this. But the fact is that though the tourism industry and its market have grown phenomenally worldwide, the industry and its market have not grown in Bangladesh due to many reasons. Out of these reasons, insufficient and ineffective promotional measure is one of the major reasons responsible for not developing tourism in Bangladesh. As tourists want to know in advance about the attractions and the facilities of a particular destination and other related information of his/her visit to make the visit a safe, secured and enjoyable, dissemination of information on travel and tourism-related products and services are highly important to the potential tourists. Tour operators provide the necessary information by using the different tools of promotion in order to influence the potential tourists’ attitudes in favour of their destination. Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation and the private tour operators in Bangladesh fail to do so which led to the failure of this industry to grow properly. But time has not yet passed over. There are lots of scopes and opportunities if Bangladesh attempts to highlight it as a tourist destination to potential tourists properly through an effective promotional measure. This thesis is an outcome of the study on “Promotional Measures in Developing Tourism Industry in Bangladesh: An Empirical Study” where the attempts have been made: (i) to examine the existing promotional approaches of both the public and private tour operators, (ii) to identify the problems and the limitations of their promotional activities, and (iii) to prescribe necessary policy measures for effective promotional actions for the industry in Bangladesh. In addition, it was also attempted to investigate the current development trends of tourism industry in global perspective as well as in Bangladesh perspective and to examine the role of promotional measures in developing tourism industry in Bangladesh. The promotional activities and its effectiveness were also evaluated in order to identify the problems and limitations of the said activities. Finally, based on the findings, some suggestions have been put forwarded to the policy makers of the concerned authority. In addition, by considering the importance of promotional activities in tourism, the present study were conducted based on some assumptions like: (i) Promotional activities of tour operators in Bangladesh is not proper, adequate and effective. Based on this assumption, the following supporting assumptions were taken into consideration: (i) Tourists consider the promotional tools used by the tour operators as important source(s) of information, (ii) Promotion activities play a vital role for the development of tourism industry and the promotional activities undertaken by different tour operators have significant effect on tourists’ decision-making (iii) The promotional activities undertaken by different tour operators have not been sufficient; though promotion can play a vital role for the development of the tourism industry, (iv) The tour operators and the tourists assign the same level of importance on promotional activities, (v) Both the tour operators and the tourists perceived that the undertaken promotional activities are not appropriate (vi) The ongoing promotional activities undertaken by different tour operators are not effective (vii) The development of tourism does not depend on only the promotional activities rather it depends on tourism and tour operators’ related serveral issues, (viii) There is no specific promotional tool(s) preferred by the tourists to get tourism related information. In consideration of the above assumptions, here the researcher followed descriptive research to determine the frequency with which something occurs or the relationships among variables. Since the purpose of the present study is to describe and analyze the use of promotional activities in Bangladesh tourism industry is an attempt to highlight the issues related to promotion and put forward some suggestions to what actual promotional measures are best suited for attracting more tourists to Bangladesh and contribute more positively to the economy of the country. For this purpose, three different sets of structured questionnaire were developed to collect the primary data. Primary data was collected from the 515 local tourists, 125 foreign tourists and 20 tour operators. In addition, 3 executives of BPC, 2 executives from TOAB and 3 academicians were also interviewed to get a clear understanding of issue under study and also to collect some necessary information. To analyze the collected data, conventional statistical tool like percentage, weighted average etc. have been used. In addition correlation, regression analysis, variance analysis, standard deviation, factor analysis, test of hypothesis, paired sample t- test etc. have been used. Finally, interpretation of the result has been made to draw the conclusion. The present study found that: (i) the promotional influence the tourists’ decision-making process but the promotional measures of Bangladesh tourism are inadequate and depending on mainly local media and some printed materials like brochures, folders, souvenirs, tourists maps, tourist guides etc to promote the same, the marketers should rethink this important issue, (ii) the undertaken promotional activities are also inappropriate and ineffective even the use of information technology to promote tourism in Bangladesh is not at a satisfactory level, (iii) the tourism development does not depend on only promotional measures; rather it needs some infrastructural facilities to the standard of international levels to its destination places. This important issue needs to be considered immediately and on priority basis before going to promoting the same sector in order to develop the industry. To gain full potential of tourism, an effective and coordinated promotional campaign is a must. In addition, sufficient level of promotional activities is required to implement at the target markets from where the country wants to attract more tourists. Both the government and the private investors should have some coordinated and joint efforts to develop some world standard tourism products and service and other infrastructures. At the same time, coordinated efforts are required among various institutions to promote Bangladesh tourism. It must be remembered that the success of any country in this regard does not depend only on what they have to offer rather it is largely determined how can they market it. It indicates that the marketers require adopting an innovative and creative marketing approach and promotion is one of the most important issues in tourism marketing. Though the study found a positive trend in arrivals and earnings from tourism in Bangladesh, but if effective promotional measures could be undertaken, the same could be increased to a significant level. In addition, promotional activities should also be directed in correcting the present negative image towards Bangladesh as tourists’ destination. It is also expected that the findings and analysis of this study will help formulate appropriate promotional measures and thus motivate effectively more potential foreign tourists to visit Bangladesh as well as to contribute to the economy of the country. At the same time, this study may be helpful for the policy-makers of the country to devote their attention to the segments of the tourism market that they expect to attract. Finally, it can be expected the by ensuring these measures, Bangladesh tourism industry can emerge as one of the major contributors to the national economy of Bangladesh.