Task force on tourism promotion

Cox's Bazar: World's longest sea beach

We all know that development of any industrial sector requires capital, both financial and human. That also applies to tourism industry. However, tourism has a natural capital base that if quantified in financial terms would represent a huge capital asset. Fortunately, Bangladesh's large and attractive natural resources such as beaches, scenic beauty, forests and wild life along with its archaeological remains, art, culture etc. are natural capital base which if quantified in financial terms would represent a huge capital asset. The world's longest ( 120 km. ) unbroken beach at Cox's Bazar; the world's largest mangrove forests called the Sunderbans (beautiful forests )in the southern part of the country; the scenic beauty of "the Sylhet Valley" with the three largest tea gardens of the world; archaeological remains of the 3rd century B.C. at Mahasthangarhth and the 8th century A.D. Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur in the north-western part; the ancient tradition and heritage of the tribal families of the three hill districts namely,Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachari are some of the natural capital base of Bangladesh. But we have not been able to make proper use of the natural capital base to promote and develop the country's tourism industry.

The BNP government for the first time formulated National Tourism Policy in 1992 and this Policy considered tourism "as an industry of due priority". The Industrial Policy of 1999 formulated during the period of the immediate past Awami League (AL) government identified tourism as a "thrust sector". But absence of a strong political will, lack of respect for the policies and programmes of the past government, lack of coordinated efforts among the relevant public organisations, insufficient infrastructure facilities, poor response from private sector, unsatisfactory law and order situation, the country's image problem abroad and absence of adequate publicity both at home and abroad to project Bangladesh as a tourist destination have become perennial problems and constraints to the promotion of our tourism industry.

Tourism represents one per cent of Bangladesh's total export economy while according to World Tourism Organization's (WTO) report (2001) tourism's contribution to the export economy of Maldives and Nepal, two South Asian countries, is 71 per cent and 18 per cent respectively. According to WTO, in some least developed countries (LDCs) of Africa namely, Benin (10.3) , Cape Verde( 17.1), Senegal (12.7), Lesotho ( 9.9) and Uganda ( 18.2 ) tourism has become a prominent sector since 1985. The figures in the brackets alongside these countries show tourism in percentage of total exports of goods and services. About two million tourists now visit Cuba annually and "tourism is the main earner of foreign exchange and Cuba is increasingly producing more of what tourists consume."

The National Tourism Council (NTC) headed by the Prime Minister in a meeting on May 28, 2000 decided to form a three-member Task Force headed by the Chief of Staff, Army, to submit recommendations for promotion of tourism industry of the country. The other two members of the committee were the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism and the Chairman , Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation. The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism formally notified the composition of the Task Force on August 24, 2000. The committee submitted its recommendations in January, 2001. The committee submitted short term (5 years) medium term (10 years) and long term (20 years) recommendations for promotion of our tourism industry as a whole with particular emphasis on attracting regional and international tourists.

The short term recommendations include, inter alia, (1) widening and development of those roads which connect different states of India with Bangladesh; (2) introducing train service between Khulna and Kolkata via Jessore and Benapole; (3) introducing bus service between Dhaka and Agartala; (4) constructing hotels and motels having modern facilities at Jessore, Kushtia, Maulvi Bazar, Sreemangal and Brahmanbaria towns; ( 5 ) preserving historical places and archaeological remains throughout the country and arranging easy access to those places; ( 6 ) developing less costly and short term package tours; (7) recruiting knowledgeable and expert guides; and (8) establishing information centres at strategic places where handbooks, maps, posters etc. containing information on beaches, historical places, archaeological remains, forests and wild life, special events, religious rituals etc. are available.

The medium term recommendations include, among others, (1) constructing bridge over the Rupsha river to facilitate quick movement from Khulna to Bagerhat, Mongla and other places in the region; (2) developing Kuakata as a tourist centre with facilities of international standard by inviting local and foreign investment; (3) constructing cottages, guest houses with complete safety and security for the tourists within the Sunderbans, specifically at Katka and Hironpoint ; (4) introducing bus service between Dhaka- Shilong, and Dhaka -Gauhati; (5) encouraging people of Assam and Meghalaya to travel to Kolkata and other places of West Bengal via Dhaka.

The long term recommendations include, inter alia, ( 1 ) creating Tourism Development Board with representatives from the public and private sectors to act as a regulatory and monitoring body of the tourism industry; (2) dividing Bangladesh into six tourist zones as envisaged in the Tourism Master Plan, and implementing development programmes in a planned way; (3) establishing exclusive tourist zone (ETZ) for the foreign tourists at St. Martin's island and/or at Sonadia island; (4) declaring some areas of Kuakata beach and some areas of scenic beauty alongside marine drive of Cox's Bazar- Teknaf beach as exclusive zones for foreign tourists and creating necessary facilities there; (5) constructing medium size airports at Kuakata and Rangamati for introducing air service there; (6) introducing railway service between Chittagong and Cox's Bazar; (7) establishing a regional centre for tourism at Chittagong and constructing a tourist hotel of international standard there; (8) projecting Bangladesh as a tourist destination through international TV channels like CNN, BBC and Discovery to attract international tourists.

As stated earlier, the Task Force submitted its recommendations at the end of January, 2001. The author during his tenure as chairman of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation pursued the case with the government for decision on the recommendations. But it was not possible to arrange a meeting of NTC during the remaining period of six months of AL government. Since a number of policy issues were involved, the non-party caretaker government of 2001 did not take up the case. As far as it is known, the BNP led alliance government has shown very little interest on the recommendations of the Task Force. So the implementation of the recommendations has become uncertain.

The recommendations for promotion of our tourism industry were made by a Task Force composed of persons in the service of the Republic. The sole purpose of the recommendations was promotion and development of our promising tourism industry. WTO reports/publications (2001) revealed that tourism sector encompassing accommodation, food and beverage services, transport, cruises, entertainment, recreation, cultural services, conventions and travel related services represented the world's largest industry accounting for about 8 per cent of world export earnings and 37 per cent of services exports. If not all, some important recommendations of the Task Force may be taken up for implementation by the present government. The implementation of some important recommendations of the Task Force together with the removal of the earlier mentioned constraints to the maximum extent possible will help develop our tourism industry to a great extent. This will enable us to get a share of the big cake provided by tourism, the largest and the fastest growing global industry.

M. Abdul Latif Mondal is a former Secretary to the government.