Govt to identify potential tourism sites across 64 districts: Afroza

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Afroza Khanam today said the government wants to identify potential tourism sites across all 64 districts as part of efforts to establish Bangladesh as an international-standard tourism destination.

“We want to move forward with identifying potential tourism sites in all 64 districts and establishing Bangladesh as an international-standard tourism destination,” she said.

The minister made the remarks while addressing a seminar titled “Public-Private Partnership and Awareness Building for the Promotion of Eco-Tourism”, organised by the Bangladesh Tourism Board at Parjatan Bhaban in Agargaon, Dhaka.

Afroza said the government is also considering developing tourism attractions around several villages, including Mitingachhari in Kaptai upazila of Rangamati, Pankhali in Dacope upazila of Khulna and Nafanagar in Bochaganj upazila of Dinajpur.

The villages are among those being developed under the “SDG Village” initiative in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals, she said.

Noting that Bangladesh has completed 55 years of independence but has relatively few notable achievements in tourism development, the minister said the government is working to establish the country as a tourism hub in line with its electoral commitment.

She said several initiatives have already been taken to develop the tourism sector during the government's first five months in office.

“The journey towards establishing Bangladesh as a tourism hub will not be easy. We need all stakeholders beside us in this journey,” Afroza said.

She said the government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, wants to develop the country with the cooperation of all stakeholders.

The minister stressed the need to set clear priorities for development initiatives and called for stronger coordination between the government and private sector.

She said the ministry wants to hold monthly meetings with private-sector stakeholders to ensure there is no information gap between government agencies and private-sector operators.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Fahmida Akhtar said work on the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) has already begun to address the existing data gap in the tourism sector.

She said the government is also working to formulate an eco-tourism policy.

Referring to the lack of coordination in the past, Fahmida said stronger cooperation among stakeholders could help overcome the problem and accelerate development of the tourism sector.

Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation Chairman Md Samimuzzaman attended the seminar as special guest, while Bangladesh Tourism Board Chief Executive Officer (Additional Charge) Md Abdur Rouf chaired it.

The seminar discussed the importance and current state of eco-tourism in Bangladesh, challenges to its development, future action plans and measures needed to promote the sector.

Prof Dr Md Wasiul Islam of the Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline at Khulna University presented the keynote paper.