Bangladesh for the last 20 years trying to bring out a super infrastructure of Tourism sector. having unlimited natural resources Bangladeshi policy makers get the potentiality of Tourism sector. Many proposals, many plans but in reality we get poor.

Planning problem is the main goast for this failure. Second is politics. New govt new policy- rejecting old policies resulting the blind future of Tourism Sector.

Current political government ,Minister ,personally  Sheik Hasina  the prime Minister also shown her consciousness about the tourism Infrastructure development. from the beginning of chair. Started to develop a super plan for sustainable infrastructure of Tourism. if we analyze the reality again …it will found again failure way. Evaluating the clear decision needed for real development we found it near zero. because of all development is stopped.

The private initiator also awaiting for the master plan of tourism infrastructure. So it is deeply noted for a Master plan by next 1 month. if we allow more time for that so implementation can be far away……………

Bangladesh is situated in the north-eastern part of south Asia.  It lies between 20′ 34′ and 2e 36′ north latitude and 88′ I’ and 92′ 41′ east longitude.  The heary and great Himalayas stand as the northen ramparts, while the southern frontier is guarded by the Bay of Bengal.

On the west lies the expansive gangetic plains (West Bengal) of India and on the eastern frontier lies the almost impassable forest of Myanmar (Arakan Province) and India (Tripura and Assam hills).

These picturesque geographical boundaries delineate out a low lying plain of about 144,000 sq.km. (55,598 sq. miles) criss -crossed by innumerable brooks, rivers, rivulets and streams. Mighty rivers the Padma, Jamuna, Meghna, Karnaphuli and others flow through Bangladesh.

The unscalable blue is stretched high above, and the green and silvery landscape below runs far and beyond.  This is Bangladesh, a fertile land where nature is bounteous.

Bangladesh is a deltaic region.  Much of the country’s land area has been built up from alluvial deposits brought down by the major rivers.  The land is mostly flat except for a range of hills in the south-east.

Wooded marshylands and jungles mainly characterize it with forest regions in Sylhet, Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban Hill Tracts, Sundarbans, Mymensingh and Tangail.

Bangladesh as a vacation land has many facets. Her tourist attractions include archaeological sites, historic mosques and monuments, resorts, beaches, picnic spots, forest and wildlife.Bangladesh offers opportunities for angling, water-skiing, river cruising, hiking, rowing, surfing, yachting and sea bathing as well as bringing one in close touch with Mother Nature.  She is also rich in wildlife and game birds.

The Bangladeshi government has commenced work, by preparing a proposal for approval, to create an exclusive tourism zone in Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban districts.

A comprehensive development of the Chittagong Hill Tracts region has been envisaged and a long-term plan costing between US$2.1 billion to US$2.8 billion has been budgeted.

Similarly, approval has been given for the development of cable car facilities in five areas in Rangamati and Bandarban.

Yesterday , In the discussion session of parliament Prime minister Sheak Hasina informed that govt has initiated to build an attractive Aquarium at cox’s bazar for the tourist pleasure and to present the sea life culture, beside this to attract child there will be more initiatives like cartoon gallery ,International standard Hotel of 300 bed.

To develop the tourism infrastructure the government is showing the best level interest. In this part prime minister cleared the vision and initiatives. through this vision  PM also declare  kuakata ,Mujib Nagar  development.

PM also deliver her plan to Market Bangladesh tourism through SAARC package tour.

Its long time demand and hot topic on talkshow to develop the tourism infrustucture if Bangladesh.After all a good sun showing on the denamd.Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed authorities to take steps to make all places of natural beauty, as well as religious and historic spots in the country attractive to local and foreign tourists. She ordered infrastructure development at Cox’s Bazar, St. Martin and Maheshkhali islands, Kuakata, and other major tourist spots. She also suggested introducing Tourist Police to deal with security concerns in the tourism sector. The directives of the Prime Minister came following the first meeting of the National Tourism Council. Minister for Finance, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, and Secretaries of the Ministries were also present. The Prime Minister emphasized maximum utilization of the world’s longest sea beach, Cox’s Bazar, and ensuring security of the tourists. While modernizing the tourism spots, the traditional beautiful face of rural Bangladesh and the country’s culture and heritage will have to be protected from distortion, she said. The Prime Minister said there are hundreds of ancient mosques, temples, pagodas, and churches across the country with outstanding architecture and significant history that need to be protected. She asked the Tourism Ministry to work with devotion and a new spirit to modernize the tourism industry. “Other countries present even a small river with much attraction to the tourists. Why shall we lag behind even when nature has bestowed us with its bounty?” she questioned. Underling the importance of Chittagong Hill Tracts as a tourist attraction, the prime minister said peace was restored in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) following the peace accord of 1997. The hill districts can be turned into places with tourism attractions. She asked to ensure representation of the Chittagong Hill Tract Regional Council in every committee on tourism matters. The Prime Minister reiterated her call to introduce package tourism among the SAARC member-countries, particularly among Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Bhutan for the economic welfare of the region’s population.

Considering the importance of tourism ,Bangladesh has formed a new police unit to ensure more protection for local and foreign tourists and tourism spots in the South Asian country, a senior spokesman of Bangladesh Police said on Sunday.

    ”We’ve formed the new unit — Tourist Police — to ensure foolproof security of all local and foreign tourists in the country,” Assistant Inspector General of Bangladesh Police Md Nazrul Islam told Xinhua on Sunday.

    He said the newly formed Tourist Police unit, which started its journey on Sunday from the country’s southeastern Cox’s Bazar Sea Beach, some 391 km away of capital city Dhaka, will expand its network to other tourist spots.

    Side by side ensuring security, Islam said the police unit has also been assigned for conducting rescue operations.

    Another main task for this particular unit is to look after the nature and wildlife in the tourist spots, he said, adding “We hope that the foundation of the unit will help restore more confidence among local and foreign tourists regarding safety and security.”

    According to statistics of the country’s National Tourism Authority (NTA), a total of 349,837 foreign tourists visited Bangladesh in 2008, about 21 percent higher than that in 2007.

    Despite the rise in number of tourists’ visits, the incomes from the tourism sector in 2008 came down to 4. 60 billion taka (about 65.7 million U.S. dollars) in 2008 from 5.27 billion taka (about 75.3 million U.S. dollars) in 2007, the NTA figure showed.

    The lack of adequate security and poor infrastructure were largely blamed for lower tourist arrivals in the country’s many remote tourism spots, which officials said virtually prompted the authorities to create the new unit.

Sena Hotel Developments Limited (SHDL), the owning company of Radisson Water Garden Hotel Dhaka, started building a five-star hotel in Chittagong in May, said the company’s managing director yesterday.

Brig Gen Mohammad Manzur Qader also said the company plans to build a three-star hotel in Khulna to increase tourist flow in that region.

Meanwhile, SHDL launched yesterday Sena Hotel Management Institute on Radisson premises to train people in food and beverage and fit them for local and international hospitality sector.

Chief of Army Staff and Chairman of SHDL Gen Moeen U Ahmed inaugurated the institute.

“We’ve found that there is no five-star hotel for tourists and businesspeople in Chittagong, the country’s commercial capital. The port city is also connected with such tourist attractions as Cox’s Bazar, Rangamati and Bandarban,” Qader said.

Being built at Lalkhan Bazar, the five-star hotel –Sena Garden Hotel Chittagong — will have 200 rooms with some exclusive amenities such as golf playing facility and river cruise from Kaptai to Rangamati.

Qader said the hotel would start operation by 2013 and expected an occupancy rate of around 60 percent, which he said would be viable for the first-ever five-star hotel in Chittagong. SHDL hopes Radisson would also invest in the venture.

The construction works of the SHDL’s planned three-star hotel in Khulna, Tiger Garden Hotel, will begin next year.

The hotel will help explore the Sundarbans, the biggest mangrove forest in the world, and attract more tourists to the area, Qader said.

SHDL’s first venture was Radisson Water Garden Hotel, inaugurated in February 2006. The hotel is a chain of US-based Carlson Hotels Worldwide. SHDL is a joint venture of Sena Kalyan Sangstha and Army Welfare Trust.
Source : www.thedailystar.net

 Last week i visited Cox,s Bazar to see the possibility of development of tourism infrustucture!

Yes i get this , as an ultimate opportunity option to develop which can role as a vital economy development of Bangladesh.

Minister for civil aviation and tourism G M Qader  said, the government is going to set up a ‘tourism development authority’ to replace the existing Parjatan Development Corporation.
Speaking as the chief guest at a seminar at Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), he said, the government is reformulating the existing tourism policies and going to set up a ‘master plan’ to develop Cox’s Bazar as an attractive tourist hub.
He said, once the tourism development authority would be in place, the Parjatan Corporation of Bangladesh would be abolished.  The government would also set up a tourism board comprising stakeholders such as representatives of hotel, motels tour operator agencies to promote the industry and develop new infrastructure and other facilities to serve the tourists.
The seminar titled as ‘development and potentials of tourism industry in Bangladesh’ was jointly organised by DCCI and Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) at the conference room of the chamber. Prof Ashraful Islam Chowdhury of the department of marketing and founder chairman of department of tourism and hospitality presented the keynote paper in the seminar.
DCCI president Zafar Osman was in the chair. ATAB President of Muhaimin Saleh and other directors of the chamber took part in the discussion.
The minister said, the government is taking a new look to all aspects to develop the industry by restructuring existing facilities and adding new dimensions to it.
As part of it, he said, policies are being reviewed. Biman is going under restructuring and work is going on to make it tourism supportive carrier although more time would be required to promote the services like other regional carriers offering lucrative packages.
Qader said, his ministry has already asked district deputy commissioners to identify tourist spots within the district and provide particulars about them to the ministry.
He said, the government would hand over responsibility to local government authorities where such spots may be promoted locally. The national authorities may take up bigger projects. Referring to government seriousness to promote tourism not only in cities and urban centers but also in rural areas such as eco- tourism, he said, the forthcoming budget may allow investment of ‘unaccounted money’ in this sector without questioning about sources.
Qader said, it may not be possible to create a whole lot of tourist infrastructure in the country in public sector. So the government is planning to pass more of the activities in the private sector under a supportive policy regime.
He said, the government is having many proposals from foreign investors aimed at developing exclusive tourists spots and hotels with all modern facilities.

Bangladesh the ulimate destination of development possibility,Needs only the leadership.

Many analyst in the West consider Bangladesh as an example Muslim nation having growing democratic base. The recent past general election of December 29, 2008 was at the top of the items of several influential news media in the world.

For many reasons, people of Bangladesh enjoy the status of a proud nation. One of such is their struggle and sacrifice for mother language, which has already attained international acclamations and endorsements.

Bengalis by nature are very courageous. They live under various forms of natural and otherwise disasters, starting from flood, draught, cyclone, poverty to political instability. But, on the other hand, the country is extremely potential and resourceful with world´s richest mineral resources. Although western experts (serving the interest of corporate syndicates) continue to claim that the natural gas reserve in Bangladesh is quickly exhausting, according to a number of unpublished fact sheets, actual reserve of natural gas in the country is ´infinite´. On the other hand, there is a huge layer of petroleum resources right beneath the gas layer in the country.

St. Martin, a tiny island on Bay of Bengal is another important spot of attraction of many westerners for obvious reasons. It is believed that the island holds one of the largest stocks of uranium in the world. This will certainly be a valid question as to where these uranium resources will land. Whether in military establishments or industrial? Should Bangladesh properly understand its ´worth´ by at least guessing what kind of resources its soil holds, the country will be able to not only make best use of its natural resources but bring a favorable economic change for its people.

St. Martin’s Island is a small island in the northeast part of the Bay of Bengal, about 9 km south of the tip of the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf peninsula, and forming the southernmost part of Bangladesh. It is the only coral island in Bangladesh. It is about 8 km west of the northwest coast of Myanmar at the mouth of the Naf River. The local name of the island is “Narical Gingira”, also spelled “Narikel Jinjera”, translated from Bangla, meaning ‘Coconut Island’.

St. Martin’s Island has become a popular tourist spot. Currently, three shipping liners run daily trips to the island. Tourists can book their trip either from Chittagong or from Cox’s Bazar. The surrounding coral reef of the island has an extension named Chera Dwip.

In the past 5 years St. Martin’s visitor population has increased dramatically. While this situation has proven to be lucrative for the islanders, it is causing the natural beauty of the island to deteriorate. Presently there are many efforts being put forth to preserve the several endagered species of turtles that nest on the island, as well as the corals, some of which are found only on Narikel Jinjera. Pieces of the coral reef are being removed in order to be sold to tourists. Nesting turtles are sometimes taken for food, and their hatchlings are often distracted by the twinkling lights along the beach. Species of fish, a few just recently discovered, are being overfished. Every year the fishermen must venture further out to sea to get their catch. Most of them use motorless boats.

At high tide the island is about 3 miles around, and pinched in the middle. The island exists only because of its coral base, so removal of that coral risks erosion of the beaches. St. Martins has lost roughly 25% of its coral reef in the past 7 years.

Tourism experts believe, if Bangladeshi government could take extensive measures in transforming the entire island into an international tourism spot, taking examples from islands in Bahamas or Maldives, this tiny piece of island could contribute millions of dollars to Bangladesh economy every year. For this, the government needs to relocate the local residents of St. Martin to other places and allow all forms of tourist facilities including lifting ban on alcoholic beverages (for the foreigners), forming special security force for tourists as well build golf course and other tourist resorts. In such case, millions of dollars will flow in even during this global recession to this island from potential large foreign investors having interests in tourism sector.

But, Bangladeshi governments failed in past in taking measures favorable to tourism sector especially in attracting foreign tourists, as the country follows undeclared but strict Sharia laws in many sects. For example, in worlds largest Moslem nations like Indonesia, United Arab Emirates or Maldives, alcoholic beverage is not forbidden. Moslems avoid such beverage not due to ban but showing respect to their religious obligations. But, in Bangladesh, taking alcoholic beverage is considered to be a serious crime. This is exactly the same situation as many of the nations following Sharia law like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan etc. But, being a moderate Moslem nation, Bangladesh should certainly change its olden notions.

Few years back, a local entrepreneur established a factory to produce alcoholic beverage such as liqour, beer etc in Bangladesh. This venture was certainly aimed at substituting country´s substantial volume of import of such items, for selling in hand-picked number of duty free shops. Moreover, a local refinery owned by the government is continuing to produce local made Rum for decades.

The government instead of patronizing the venture by the private entrepreneur in producing beer, liquor etc, suddenly put a ban on the production at the mad demonstration of several Islamist parties. With this instance, just for appeasing the Islamists and fanatics, Bangladesh lost the potential opportunity of substituting import of alcoholic beverage thus saving millions of dollars while opening a new avenue of huge export earnings.

Bangladeshi governments always spoke of increasing tourism in the country. But they failed in understanding several important facts, which are related to such actions. They could have easily followed the examples of Maldives, UAE or Indonesia. Instead, and unfortunately, they followed radical Iran or other Sharia law countries.

Although Bengalis are very proud and bright nation, their political luck was never good. When the country was born in 1971 after nine-month´s war against the mighty Pakistan army, new government formed under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave lots of hope and promises to the nation in upbuilding country´s economy; ensuring freedom of press and showing respect to citizen´s right