ANALYSE THE

STRENGTHS,
WEAKNESS,
OPPORTUNITIES
AND THREATS
OF TOURISM
SECTOR IN
BANGLADESH
ECONOMY
By Md. Samiul Kabir Rahat
 CONTENT
 Introduction
 Tourism in Bangladesh
 Economic impact
 Authority of Bangladesh tourism industry
 Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation
 Bangladesh Tourism Board
 Bangladesh Tourism Board Act
 Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation
 Sub industry in tourism sector
 Transportation
 Accommodation
 Food services
 Attractions
 Events
 Adventure and outdoor recreation
 Trade sector
 Different forms of Tourism
 What is SWOT analysis
 Strength of tourism in Bangladesh
 Weakness of tourism in Bangladesh
 Opportunities of tourism in Bangladesh
 Threats for tourism in Bangladesh
 Why India’s tourism is a big threat for us?

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Introduction

Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India to its west, north and east; Burma
to its southeast and separated from Nepal and Bhutan by the Chicken’s Neck corridor. To its
south, it faces the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh is the world's eighth-most populous country, with
over 160 million people, and among the most densely populated countries. It forms part of the
ethno-linguistic region of Bengal, along with the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal and
Tripura. Bangladesh is a developing country. Tourism is burning sector of this country.
Bangladesh is so much beautiful to look at. For this reason Bangladesh has a good opportunity
to earn a good amount of money. I and my partner both are trying to show the SWOT that
means strength, weakness, opportunities and threat of this industries. We are using some
statistics from different annual report and journals of a World Travel and Tourism Council
(WTTC). We are also give the sample of that journals. We give our best to make it well.

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Tourism in Bangladesh
Tourism in Bangladesh is a developing foreign currency earner. The country was listed
by Lonely Planet in 2011 as the "best value destination".
Bangladesh's tourist attractions include, historical and monuments, resorts, beaches, picnic
spots, forests and tribal people, wildlife of various species. Bangladesh offers ample
opportunities to tourists for angling, water skiing, river cruising, hiking, rowing, yachting, sea
bathing as well as bringing one in close touch with pristine nature.
In the northern part, comprising the Rajshahi division, there are archaeological sites, including
the temple city Puthia in Rajshahi; the largest and most ancient archaeological
site, Mahasthangarh in Bogra; the single largest Buddhist monastery, Paharpur in Naogaon;
the most ornamental terracota Hindu temple in Bangladesh Kantaji Temple, and many rajbaris
or palaces of old zamindars.

In the south-eastern part, which is the Chittagong division, there are natural and hilly areas
like Chittagong Hill Tracts, along with sandy sea beaches. The most notable beach, in Cox's
Bazar, is a contender for the title of longest unbroken sandy sea beach in the world.
In the south-western part, mainly the Khulna Division, there is the Sundarbans, the largest
mangrove forest of the world with Royal Bengal Tiger and spotted deer. The historically and
architecturally important sixty domed mosque in Bagerhat is a notable site. In the north-eastern
part, Sylhet division, there is a green carpet of tea plants on small hillocks. Natural reserved
forests are great attractions. Migratory birds in winter, particularly in the haor areas, are also
very attractive in this area.
Ministry of Tourism and The Civil Aviation Ministry designs national policies for the
development and promotion of tourism. The Ministry also maintains the Beautiful Bangladesh
campaign. Bangladesh Government has formed Tourist Police unit to better protect local and
foreign tourists as well as look after the nature and wildlife in the tourist spots.
Economic impact
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The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) reported in 2013 that the travel and tourism
industry in Bangladesh directly generated 1,281,500 jobs in 2012 or 1.8 percent of the country's
total employment, which ranked Bangladesh 157 out of 178 countries worldwide. Direct and
indirect employment in the industry totaled 2,714,500 jobs, or 3.7 percent of the country's total
employment. The WTTC predicted that by 2023, travel and tourism will directly generate
1,785,000 jobs and support an overall total of 3,891,000 jobs, or 4.2 percent of the country's
total employment. This would represent an annual growth rate in direct jobs of 2.9
percent. Domestic spending generated 97.7 percent of direct travel and tourism gross domestic
product (GDP) in 2012. Bangladesh's world ranking in 2012 for travel and tourism's direct
contribution to GDP, as a percentage of GDP, was 142 out of 176.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) reported in 2014 that the travel and tourism
industry in Bangladesh directly generated 2,846,500 jobs in 2013 or 3.8 percent of the country's

4
total employment, which ranked Bangladesh 155 out of 178 countries worldwide. Direct and
indirect employment in the industry totaled 2,846,500 jobs or 4.2 percent of the country's total
employment.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) reported in 2015 that the travel and tourism
industry in Bangladesh directly generated 903,500 jobs in 2014 or 1.6% percent of the country's
total employment, which ranked Bangladesh 151 out of 178 countries worldwide. Direct and

5
indirect employment in the industry totaled 1984000 jobs or 2.2 percent of the country's total
employment.

6
Authority of Bangladesh tourism industry
7
  Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation.
 Bangladesh Tourism Board.
 Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation.

Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation

Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism was a ministry under central government before
independence. After independence of Bangladesh in 1971 matters relating to communication
and tourism were vested with the Ministry of Commerce.

In 1972, Civil Aviation Division was created and brought under the Ministry of Shipping,
Inland Water Transport and Civil Aviation. However, an independent Ministry of Civil
Aviation and Tourism was created in August 1975. This again became a Division under the
Ministry of Communication in January 1976. A separate Ministry of Civil Aviation and
Tourism was created again in December 1977. On 24th March 1982 the ministry was
abolished and Civil Aviation and tourism Division became a new Division under the Ministry
of Defense. In 1986, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism was re-established as a ministry
and has been continuing as such since then.

Bangladesh Tourism Board:

Amid strong demand from the private sectors and the tourism professionals, the present
government, as one of the pre-election pledges to the nation established Bangladesh Tourism
Board as the National Tourism Organization of the country. The organization has been
established as the Statutory Body by dint of Bangladesh Tourism Board Act-2010 passed in
the parliament which was in force from July 18, 2010.

It was felt imperative to have a National Tourism Organization (NTO) in the country over the
years which will steward all promotional and development activities for tourism industry. But

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for a full-fledged NTO, the responsibility was not properly aligned and identified. Even though
Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation was established in 1973, it could not play the role of an NTO
as this organization was given the dual responsibility to pioneer and run tourism business
installations and services as well as promotional activities since its inception. Currently the
organization is running its activities with the revenue it can generate running its hotels, motels
and duty free operations.

From early 80’s a comprehensive change happened in the public management of tourism
industry. The governments started to release their control and regulation on tourism and
encouraged private sector to come in policy planning, development and promotion of tourism.
The Government regulatory Authority of Tourism transformed into promotional agency having
considerable participation of the private sectors. This change in the management framework of
tourism spurred the inward investment to destination development and management.

The NTO on the basis of public and private partnership has become the best practice of tourism
management by the government. Even Nepal, having public-private partnership NTO, has been
successful in development and promotion of tourism industry. United Nation World Tourism
Organization (UNWTO) strongly recommends the public-private partnership in tourism
management.

Bangladesh Tourism Board Act:

1) To construct various rules under the law where the main objective is to fill in the gap of
existing tourism rules and let regulations proceed.

2) To develop Tourism Industries through various planning related activities and side by side
give advice as well as directions.

3) To create general awareness regarding tourism protection, development and exploration.

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4) To execute responsible tourism through creation of some helping hand on behalf of
government like as personal sector, local people, local admin, NGO, women federation,
media.

5) To create better communication channel for the International Tourists Organizations in

Bangladesh with both government and private tourism related organizations.

6) To create a strong and safe foothold for the Bangladeshi Tourist by coordinating with
respective government organizations.

7) To create a tourism friendly environment in Bangladesh and to market its tourism potential
in both domestic and foreign nations.

8) To develop human resource for tourism sector by creating training facilities and to provide
them with the right directions.

9) To attract tourists by maintaining quality and relevant material which in turn can provide
smooth tourism service and ensuring necessary actions that need to be taken for maintenance.

10) To ensure the participation of physically challenged people.

11) To protect women rights and ensure their participation in the tourism sector.

12) To research on tourism industry, to survey international markets and to analyze the data.

13) To support the small tourism based industries and to provide them the right direction.

14) To organize tourism related fairs and to encourage tourism through various promotional
techniques.

15) To create a database regarding tourism prospects.

16) To comply with whichever duty imposed by the Government.

Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation

Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (Govt. Tourism Organization) is the pioneer of tourism
development in Bangladesh. Since independence of our beloved motherland, the father of the
nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as a reflection of his visionary leadership
created this organization with Presidential Order (P.O.) no-143 in November 1972, which
commences its function on 1st January 1973. Since its inception, this organization has been
putting in best effort to promote and develop tourism as an industry and market the tourism
products of Bangladesh. This organization has been entrusted with dual role – ‘promotion and
development’ of tourism industry as well as ‘creation and operation’ of various tourism
facilities across the country since its establishment.
The foremost objectives of the corporation are to promote tourism in Bangladesh, build up
positive image of the country abroad, create tourism infrastructure, provide services to the
tourists and flourish tourism resources that exist in Bangladesh, creating employment
opportunity in different sectors of this industry which is helpful to reduce poverty, vis-à-vis

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contribute to the growth of the national GDP. With the motto of providing best services to
tourists as well as creation of standard facilities across the country, BPC always first ventured
with the projects in different tourism potential areas. It showed the path for private investment
in the country.
This organization being the torch-bearer of developing tourism in the country, it is always
committed to bring about a positive change in the country through offering standard hospitality
services, creating international standard and unique tourism facilities more and more,
diversifying tourism products and developing tourism human resources. Until now this
organization has established as many as 42 tourist facilities across the country in different
form like hotels, motels, restaurants, bars, picnic spots, swimming pool, tourist information
centre, etc.
Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation always welcomes any innovative idea, suggestion,
recommendation for further improvement of its facilities and service standard from any
individual or organization. We always heartily welcome our valued domestic and foreign
tourists. Please visit Bangladesh more and more and be our guests and savour our service

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Sub industry in tourism sector
There are a good number of industries in tourism sector:

 Transportation
 Accommodation
 Food services
 Attractions
 Events
 Adventure and outdoor recreation
 Trade sector
 Tourism services

Transportation
The operating sectors of the tourism industry represent what many of the general public
perceive as “tourism”. First and foremost, the transportation sector, comprising of airlines, bus
companies and so on, tends to typify the movement of people and travel. Example: greenline,
Bangladesh biman ect.

Accommodation
The accommodation sector which includes in many well-known “brands” such as Hilton,
marriot, Radisson Water Garden Hotel, The Westin, Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Platinum
Suites, Ruposhi Bangla (hotel) (Formerly Dhaka Sheraton) and so on, is highly visible to the
public.

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Food services
It is a popular sector to the tourist. It became a part of our life. Examples include the world
famous first food chains: McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, burger king, KFC. We have also a lot of
well-known local brands. As like Shah Amanat Int., Tilottoma, BFC and etc.

Attractions
The attraction sector also contains many well-known icons in tourism industry. The undisputed
leader of the attraction in Bangladesh is CONCORD. They have the Fantasy kingdom, Foy's
Lake, the Heritage Park and etc.

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Events
Closely related to attractions is the events sector. Its icons include Anata, The artisan, show
beach, Watermelon and etc.

Adventure and outdoor recreation

The adventure and outdoor recreation sector is one of the most rapidly growing components of
modern tourism. Changes in demographic,

Different forms of Tourism

 Accessible Tourism: Accessible tourism is the ongoing endeavor to ensure tourist
destinations, products and services are accessible to all people, regardless of their
physical limitations, disabilities or age.
 Agritourism: It is defined most broadly, involves any agriculturally based operation or
activity that brings visitors to a farm or ranch. Elsewhere, agritourism includes a wide
variety of activities, including buying produce direct from a farm stand, navigating a
corn maze, picking fruit, feeding animals, or staying at a B&B on a farm.
 Cultural Tourism: Cultural tourism (or culture tourism) is the subset of tourism
concerned with a country or region's culture, specifically the lifestyle of the people in
those geographical areas, the history of those people, their art, architecture, religion(s),
and other elements that helped shape their way of life.
 Birth Tourism: Birth tourism is traveled to another country for childbirth. Reasons for
the practice include access to the destination country's healthcare system, and in
countries that recognize birthright citizenship, gaining citizenship for the child.
 Bookstore Tourism: Bookstore tourism is a type of cultural tourism that promotes
independent bookstores as a group travel destination. It started as a grassroots effort to
support locally owned and operated bookshops, many of which have struggled to
compete with large bookstore chains and online retailers.
 Christian Tourism: Christian tourism refers to the entire industry of Christian travel,
tourism, and hospitality. In recent years, it has grown to include not only Christians
embarking individually or in groups on pilgrimages and missionary travel, but also on
religion-based cruises, leisure (fellowship) vacations, crusades, rallies, retreats,
monastery visits/guest-stars and Christian camp, as well as visiting Christian tourist
attractions.
 Culinary Tourism: Culinary or food tourism is defined by the World Food Travel
Association (WFTA) as the pursuit of unique and memorable eating and drinking
experiences. Culinary tourism differs from agritourism in that culinary tourism is
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 considered a subset of cultural tourism (cuisine is a manifestation of culture) whereas
agritourism is considered a subset of rural tourism, but culinary tourism and agritourism
are inextricably linked, as the seeds of cuisine can be found in agriculture.
 Dark Tourism: Dark tourism (also black tourism or grief tourism) is tourism involving
travel to sites associated with death and tragedy. The main draw, however, to these
locations is mostly due to their historical value rather than their associations with death
and suffering.
 Disaster Tourism: Disaster tourism is the act of traveling to a disaster area as a matter
of curiosity. The behavior can be a nuisance if it hinders rescue, relief, and recovery
operations.
 Drug Tourism: Drug tourism is travel for obtaining or using drugs for personal use
that are unavailable or illegal in one's home jurisdiction. Drug tourism can be also
defined as the phenomenon by which one's travel experience involves the consumption
and usage of drugs that are considered to be illegal or illegitimate in either the visited
destination or the tourist’s country of origin.
 Ecotourism: Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving visiting fragile, pristine, and
relatively undisturbed natural areas, intended as a low-impact and often small-scale
alternative to standard commercial (mass) tourism. Its purpose may be to educate the
traveler, to provide funds for ecological conservation, directly benefit the economic
development and political empowerment of local communities, or to foster respect for
different cultures and for human rights.
 Female Sex Tourism: Female sex tourism occurs when females travel in order to gain
sexual or romantic favors that are scarce or not available to them in their own country.
Female sex tourism is often ignored due to the significantly lower rates in comparison
to male sex tourism.
 Geo-tourism: Geo-tourism deals with non-living parts of the natural and built
environments. Geo-tourism was first defined (Hose, 1995) in England. Purely
geological and geo-morphologically-focused tourism. This is the definition followed in
most of the world. Geographically Sustainable Tourism emphasizes preservation of the
geographical sense of a place in general, beyond simple geological and
geomorphological features.
 Halal Tourism: Halal tourism is a subcategory of religious tourism, which is geared
towards Muslim families who abide by Sharia's rules. The hotels in such destinations
do not serve alcohol and have separate swimming pools and spa facilities for men and
women. Malaysia, Turkey and many more countries are trying to attract Muslim tourists
from all over the world offering facilities in accordance with the religious beliefs of
Muslim tourists.
 Heritage Tourism: Cultural heritage tourism (or just heritage tourism or diaspora
tourism) is a branch of tourism oriented towards the cultural heritage of the location
where tourism is occurring. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United
States defines heritage tourism as “traveling to experience the places and activities that
authentically represent the stories and people of the past," and cultural heritage tourism
is defined as “traveling to experience the places and activities that authentically
represent the stories and people of the past and present."
 LGBT tourism: Gay tourism or LGBT tourism is a form of niche tourism marketed to
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. They are usually open about
their sexual orientation and gender identity but may be more or less open when
traveling; for instance, they may be closeted at home, or if they have come out, may be
more discreet in areas known for violence against LGBT people.

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 Medical Tourism: Medical tourism (MT) is patient movement from highly developed
nations to other areas of the world for medical care, usually to find treatment at a lower
cost. Medical tourism is different from the traditional model of international medical
travel where patients generally journey from less developed nations to major medical
centers in highly developed countries for medical treatment that is unavailable in their
own communities.
 Literary Tourism: Literary tourism is a type of cultural tourism that deals with places
and events from fictional texts as well as the lives of their authors. This could include
following the route taken by a fictional character, visiting particular place associated
with a novel or a novelist, or visiting a poet's grave.
 Music Tourism: Music tourism is the act of visiting a city or town, to see a music
festival or other music performances. This sort of tourism is particularly important to
small villages such as Glastonbury, as well as large cities like Glasgow.
 Archaeotourism: Archaeotourism or archaeological tourism is a form of cultural
tourism, which aims to promote public interest in archaeology and the conservation of
historical sites. Archaeological tourism can include all products associated with public
archaeological promotion, including visits to archaeological sites, museums,
interpretation centers, reenactments of historical occurrences, and the rediscovery of
indigenous products, festivals, or theaters.
 Nautical Tourism: Nautical tourism is an increasingly popular way to combine love
of sailing and boating with vacation and holiday activities.
 Pop-culture Tourism: Pop-culture tourism is the act of traveling to locations featured
in literature, film, music, or any other form of popular entertainment.
 Poverty Tourism: Slum tourism is a type of tourism that involves visiting
impoverished areas. Originally focused on the slums of London and Manhattan in the
19th Century, slum tourism is now becoming increasingly prominent in developing
nations, including India, Brazil, Kenya, and Indonesia.

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What is SWOT ANALYSIS?
A SWOT analysis (alternatively SWOT matrix) is a structured planning method used to
evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in a project or in
a business venture. A SWOT analysis can be carried out for a product, place, industry or
person. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying
the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective.
Some authors credit SWOT to Albert Humphrey, who led a convention at the Stanford
Research Institute (now SRI International) in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune
500companies. However, Humphrey himself does not claim the creation of SWOT, and the
origins remain obscure. The degree to which the internal environment of the firm matches with
the external environment is expressed by the concept of strategic fit.

Strengths: characteristics of the business or project that give it an advantage over

others.
Weaknesses: characteristics that place the business or project at a disadvantage
relative to others.
Opportunities: elements that the project could exploit to its advantage.
Threats: elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or
project.
Identification of SWOTs is important because they can inform later steps in planning to
achieve the objective.
First, the decision makers should consider whether the objective is attainable, given the
SWOTs. If the objective is not attainable a different objective must be selected and the
process repeated.
Users of SWOT analysis need to ask and answer questions that generate meaningful
information for each category (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) to make
the analysis useful and find their competitive advantage.

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Strength of tourism in Bangladesh

historical
tourism

religious well
tourism hospitality

Strength of
tourism in
business
Bangladesh well
tourism geography

domestic colorful
tourism culture

Historical tourism
We have a lot of sing from the ancient period to current time. So this country is a well area for
historical tourism. We have Mahasthangarh which is the first city of this sub-continent. We
have Som pura bihara , Somapura Mahavihara in Paharpur, Badalgachhi Upazila, Naogaon
District, Bangladeshis among the best known Buddhist viharas in the Indian Subcontinent and
is one of the most important archeological sites in the country. It was designated
a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. Panam city in Sonargoan is a beautiful sight of our
historical place. Lalbagh Fort is an incomplete 17th century Mughal fort complex
in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This fort (also known as Fort Aurangabad) stands proudly before the
Buriganga River in the southwestern part of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The construction was started
in 1678 AD by Mughal Subahdar Muhammad Azam Shah. For long the fort was considered to
be a combination of three buildings (the mosque, the tomb of Bibi Pari and the Diwan-i-Aam),
with two gateways and a portion of the partly damaged fortification wall. Recent excavations
carried out by the Department of Archaeology of Bangladesh have revealed the existence of
other structures. Ahsan Manzil is a wonderful ancient building, located on the bank of the river
Buriganga, in old Dhaka at Kumartoli, Islampur area. It was a residential palace for Dhaka
Nawab Family. The structure of this palace was started in the year 1859 and was finished in
1869. It is constructed in the Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture. To preserve the cultural and
history of the area, the palace became the Bangladesh National Museum on 20 September 1992.
We have our own history about our language. No other nation do not give blood for its
language. So The Shaheed Minar is a national monument in Dhaka, Bangladesh, established to
commemorate those killed during the Bengali Language Movement demonstrations of 1952.
On 21 February 1952, dozens of students and political activists were killed when
the Pakistanipolice force opened fire on Bengali protesters who were demanding equal status
for their native tongue, Bengali. The massacre occurred near Dhaka Medical
College and Ramna Park in Dhaka. A makeshift monument was erected on 23 February.by
students of University of Dhaka and other educational institutions, but demolished on 26

18
February by the Pakistani police force. The Language Movement gained momentum, and after
a long struggle, Bengali was given equal status with Urdu. To commemorate the dead, the
Shaheed Minar was designed and built by Hamidur Rahman, a Bangladeshi sculptor. The
monument stood until the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, when it was demolished
completely during Operation Searchlight. After Bangladesh gained independence, it was
rebuilt. At present, all national, mourning, cultural and other activities held each year, regarding
21 February, have been centered on the Shaheed Minar. These historical palaces are asset for
us.

Well hospitality
We are so hospitable. Our rural people are so much simple and they are so mush festive. They
receive any kinds of guest with a glad mind. For our well hospitality and simple smiling face a
lot of tourist come here from the ancient period to current time.

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 Well geography
Bangladesh has a tropical monsoon climate characterized by wide seasonal variations in
rainfall, high temperatures, and high humidity. Regional climatic differences in this flat country
are minor. Three seasons are generally recognized: a hot, muggy summer from March to June;
a hot, humid and rainy monsoon season from June to November; and a warm-hot, dry winter
from December to February. In general, maximum summer temperatures range between 38 and
41 °C (100.4 and 105.8 °F). April is the hottest month in most parts of the country. January is
the coolest month, when the average temperature for most of the country is 16–20 °C (61–
68 °F) during the day and around 10 °C (50 °F) at night.
Only we are the country which have multi-color season. We multi types of fruit crops and flour.
We have hill, sea beach, and manrope forest. So it is well place for the natural beauty lover and
wild life lover. Coxs bazar is a beautiful place for natural beauty lovers. Cox's Bazar Bengali
is a seaside town, a fishing port and district headquarters in Bangladesh. It is known for its
wide and long sandy beach, which is considered by many as the world's longest natural sandy
sea beach. The beach in Cox's Bazar is an unbroken 125 kilometers (78 mi) sandy sea beach
with a gentle slope. It is located 152 kilometers (94 mi) south of the industrial port of
Chittagong. Cox's Bazar is also known by the name Panowa, whose literal translation means
"yellow flower". Its other old name was "Palongkee". We have also St. Martin's Island. It is a
small island (area only 8 km2) in the northeastern 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. There is a small adjoining island that is separated at high tide, called Chhera
Island. It is about 8 km west of the northwest coast of Myanmar, at the mouth of the Naf River.
The first settlement started just 250 years ago by some Arabian sailors who named the island
‘Zajira’. During British occupation the island was named St. Martin Island. The local names of
the island are "Narical Gingira", also spelled "Narikel Jinjira/Jinjera", which means 'Coconut
Island' in Bengali, and "Daruchini Dip". It is the only coral island in Bangladesh. The hill lovers
can stay in Bandarban. Bandarban is a district in South-Eastern Bangladesh, and a part of
the Chittagong Division and Chittagong Hill Tracts. Bandarban is regarded as one of the most
attractive travel destinations in Bangladesh. Bandarban (meaning the dam of monkeys), or in
Marma or Arakanese language as "Rwa-daw Mro" is also known as Arvumi or the Bohmong
Circle (of the rest of the three hill districts Rangamati is the Chakma Circle, Raja Devasish Roy
and Khagrachari is the Mong Circle, Raja Sachingprue Marma). Bandarban town is the home
town of the Bohmong Chief (currently King, or Raja, U Cho Prue Marma) who is the head of
the Marma population. It also is the administrative headquarters of Bandarban district, which
has turned into one of the most exotic tourist attractions in Bangladesh. Whose people love hill
with ake they can test the Rangamati division. It's a travel destination of Bangladesh which is
known as "Lake City". Kaptai Lake, the hanging bridge and Pablakhali reserve forest are some
of the notable locations to visit in Rangamati.Tourist Places in Rangamati . They are, Rajban
bihar pagoda , peda ting ting , tribal cultural museum , hanging bridge , shuvolong , kaptai
national park , royal chakma palace and rangamati kaptai lake. Jaflong is a natural tourist spot
in the Division of Sylhet, Bangladesh. It is located in Gowainghat Upazila of Sylhet District
and situated at the border between Bangladesh and the Indian state of Meghalaya. It is just
below the mountain range. Jaflong is famous for its stone collections and is home of the Khasi
tribe.

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 Colorful culture
We are so much rich about our culture. We have various types of music, poem and festivals.
We have pala gan, jari gaan,sari gaan, murshidi and vaoaia gaan. These songs have deep
meanings and it say the sounds of our village. We have a lot of colorful festivals. Pohela
Boishakh is our main and largest festival. It is the first day Bengali calendar. We have
Nobanno festivals. We have also a lot ethnic society. They have different types of language
and life style. We have poverty but every year our peoples celebrate a lot of festivals with
their well festive mind. Which people want to see life they can visit Bangladesh.

Domestic tourism
We are so much rich in our domestic tourism. Domestic travel spending generated 97.9% of
direct Travel & Tourism GDP in 2014 compared with 2.1% for visitor exports (i.e. foreign
visitor spending or international tourism receipts). Domestic travel spending is expected to
grow by 5.9% in 2015 to BDT517.7bn, and rise by 5.9% pa to BDT917.8bn in 2025. Visitor
exports are expected to grow by 3.7% in 2015 to BDT10.6bn, and rise by 5.7% pa to
BDT18.4bn in 2025.

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 Business tourism
Which people come from outside in our country basically for business purpose. They are
mainly come here for attending any business meeting, workshop or any presentation. In the
free time they are trying to know about our culture, trying to test our food. We can do sell
better experience to them.

Religious tourism

From the late middle age different kinds of people come here for religious purpose. Every year
huge amount of people come come here for visit different religious place. Baitul Mukarram is
the national mosque of Bangladesh. Located at the center of Dhaka, the mosque was completed
in 1968. The mosque has a capacity of 30,000, and it is world's tenth largest mosque. Sixty
Dome Mosque is a mosque in Bangladesh, the largest in that country from the Sultanate period.

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It has been described as "the most impressive Muslim monuments in the whole of the Indian
subcontinent. Istema is the second haj of Muslim. We have so many majar in Sylhet and so
other area of Bangladesh. We have so many Buddhist temple in Rangamati and Bandarban.
Shorno Mandir (Golden Temple) at Bandarban, a holy place for the Bhuddists. It is a big
strength side for our tourism.

Weakness of tourism in Bangladesh

enough
budget

Lacking of the
Peoples are
combination
not enough
with other
skilled Weakness ministries
of tourism
in
Bangladesh

barriers of security
society problems

23
 Enough budget
Bangladesh is a developing country. Our tourism is rising sector. In the budget of 2015 – 2016
financial year government provide a good amount of money. But is not sufficient for us. We
have not well structure in our tourism area. So for these development we need a good amount
of budget.

Lacking of the combination with other ministries

When a tourist wants to visit a destination at first he need visa, than he need transport to move,
than he need the accommodation facilities, he need security support for move safely and
medical support if he fill sick. That means there is a lots of part in a travel. All of these work
we need the support of different ministries, as example, for visa we need the support of Ministry
of Religious Affairs, for well transport communication and smooth way we need the help of
Ministry of Road Transport and Bridge. That means, a destination need well transport facilities,
well security, well environment, well it facilities, continuous power supply and each facilities
provided by different ministries. So we need to work together but the reality is we are not doing
it. It is big weakness of our tourism. For these reason we cannot provide so much better service
as India, Malaysia, Australia and Brazil.

Ministry of Civil
Ministry of Aviation and
Tourism Ministry of
Road
Chittagong Hill
Transport and Tracts Affairs
Bridge
Ministry of Local
Government
Ministry of
and Rural
Foreign Affairs
Development &
Co-operatives

for attractive tourist

Ministry of destination
Disaster Ministry of
Management Finance
and Relief

Ministry of Law,
Justice and Ministry of
Parliamentary Home Affairs
Affairs

Ministry of Ministry of
Shipping Religious Affairs

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 Security problems
Any tourist wants to make her tour safe. One tourist may have a good amount of money and
other expensive gazed. Security and safety is big issue for us whole country. Last two years
our security and safety was so bad for the political violence. It create a bad impact on our
tourism industry. Our tourist and local hotel authority have faced a lot of problems. If we will
do not provide it properly they do not feel secure and if they do not feel secure they never come
here for recreation. It also create a bad imprison about our country and our service sector. So
for our life and for our economy we need to solve this problem.

Barriers of society
We are a Muslim country. We have our own socio culture. Our socio culture, socio ethics and
western socio culture, socio ethics are not same, sometimes it is contradictive. So it is a
problem for us. Maximum time tourist wants to get alcohol but alcohol is not available here.
They wants to take sun bath but for our socio problem they cannot do it properly. So it is a
great problem for us.

Peoples are not enough skilled

We have not enough human power in this industry. It is a big lacking of this industry. Maximum
chefs are come different country. For this lacking we cannot providing so much better service
like Singapore and Malaysia. We have some diploma and under graduate course but its quality
are not so good. The labs of these institute are not world class standard. So we think that it is a
big problem for us.

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Opportunities of tourism in Bangladesh

community
base tourism

promote our
our youth tourism
power through our
cricket
Opportunities
of tourism in
Bangladesh

new project
of
social media government:
tourism city
Cox's Bazar

Community base tourism

Community based tourism (CBT) refers more specifically to tourism activities or enterprises
that involve local communities, occur on their lands, and are based on their cultural and natural
assets and attractions. Community based tourism is developed by local community members,
working together in a “CBT” club group, sometimes a partnership with a tour operator.

Community members design CBT programs based on special elements of local life, culture
and nature which they feel proud and comfortable to share with visitors. CBT gives visitors a
unique opportunity to meet local people, experience and learn about local culture, livelihoods
and relationships between people and environment. CBT is designed to support social and
environmental work, build local skills and distribute benefits broadly.

Bangladesh have above 87,650 villages. We cannot build five or three star hotels at each village
and our international tourist cane here to feel our rural life. So we think that if we can apply
this concept properly we may earn better money than current time.

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 Promote our tourism through our cricket
Already we have done two block buster cricket event in 2011 and 2014. We are also going to
arrange another block buster event in 2016. Cricket is a popular game in the whole world. So
our tourism board take a project to promote our tourism through our cricket.

New project of government: tourism city Cox's Bazar

Cox’s bazar is our main tourism attraction for our domestic and international tourist. Recently
our government take a big project for making Cox’s bazar as a tourism city. They already start
the project. They have built new airport, road and parks in Cox’s bazar. Government already
open a new fund to invest in this project. They are trying to make it as like Qatar and Dubai.
If we can do it successfully it will be a great opportunity for our tourism industry.

Social media
Now today we are using different types of social media for our daily communication. We can
promote our tourist destination through the “check in”. We can also promote our destination
through different types of adventure group in social sites.

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We can also promote our self through google. Google have some well feature for promote our
self. We can develop google earth. It is a well and smart software for tourist. We can develop
by specify our destination, put a well details and photo in there. We can develop its sight view.
We also promote our self through hangout.

Our youth power

In Bangladesh above 60% plus people of total population are youth generation. Youth people
have enough energy level to do a work successfully. Internet is available at everywhere in our
country. Our youth people can create a good website on his local area and any one can get
details through it. We have to use this power for our tourism industry.

Threats for tourism in Bangladesh

our
weakness

Threats for
tourism in
Bangladesh
tourism our
sector of political
India problems

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 Our weakness
We have some major weakness like combination of our ministry, security problem, well skilled
problem. We need to solve these problems by taking long term project and short tactics. If we
take Dubai as our idol we will see that in last 25 years they have changed the total scenario of
Dubai. They have well communication structure, well accommodation system and their transit
also so much well. They can do all of these only for they have a specific goal or target and they
were so much about their job. So it is the high time to set our goal. Budget also a problem to
develop our structure so we need to specify our source. We can open new chain. Different chain
are so much positive about open new branch in our country but we have not enough skilled
human resource. So we need to think about it. It is a great industry to solve our unemployment
problem and it is service sector so without skilled people we cannot run this industry. So it is
a great industry for our economy. If we do not solve our weakness it will make a big threat for
us.

Tourism sector of India

The tourism industry of India is economically important and is growing rapidly. The World
Travel & Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated 6.4 trillion or 6.6% of the nation's
GDP in 2012. It supported 39.5 million jobs, 7.7% of its total employment. The sector is
predicted to grow at an average annual rate of 7.9% from 2013 to 2023. This gives India the
third rank among countries with the fastest growing tourism industries over the next
decade. India has a large medical tourism sector which is expected to grow at an estimated rate
of 30% annually to reach about 95 billion by 2015.
According to provisional statistics 7.42 million foreign tourists arrived in India in 2014, an
increase of 7.4% from 6.96 million in 2013. This ranks India as the 38th country in the world
in terms of foreign tourist arrivals. Domestic tourist visits to all states and Union
Territories numbered 1,036.35 million in 2012, an increase of 16.5% from 2011. The most
represented countries are the United States (16%) and the United Kingdom (12.6%). In
2011, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi were the most popular states for foreign tourists.

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Domestic tourists visited the states Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu most
frequently.[4] Chennai, Delhi,Mumbai and Agra have been the four most visited cities of India
by foreign tourists during the year 2011. Worldwide, Chennai is ranked 38 by the number of
foreign tourists, while Mumbai is ranked at 50, Delhi at 52 and Agra at 66 and Kolkata at 99.
The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013 ranks India 65th out of 144 countries
overall. The report ranks the price competitiveness of India's tourism sector 20th out of 144
countries. It mentions that India has quite good air transport (ranked 39th), particularly given
the country’s stage of development, and reasonable ground transport infrastructure (ranked
42nd). Some other aspects of its tourism infrastructure remain somewhat underdeveloped
however. The nation has very few hotel rooms per capita by international comparison and
low ATM penetration. The World Tourism Organization reported that India's receipts from
tourism during 2012 ranked 16th in the world, and 7th among Asian and Pacific countries.
India's rich history and its cultural and geographical diversity make its international tourism
appeal large and diverse. It presents heritage and cultural tourism along with medical, business,
educational and sports tourism.

Why India’s tourism is a big threat for us?

If we look on the history we will see that we were a same territory so that before
the Pakistan period our history is same. So in historical tourism both of us provide
same history. Their historical places are so much rich than us. So they can offer
better package than us which is a big threat for our historical tourism.
India also famous for religious purpose. Benaras, Ajmiri Sharif is their top most
religious area for Hindu and Muslim. In Shimla and the border area of Nepal and
china they have some famous Buddhist temple. Every year India earn a good
amount of money from the religious visitor.
India have different kinds of state. Each state have its own language and culture,
food habit. So those people wants to see life India offer better experience than us.
So we may get trouble when we offering our natural beauty and our colorful culture.
Agra is the most visited area of India. Every year huge people come here to see Taj.
Every year a good amount of Bangladeshi people visit India for various purpose.
We have said that domestic tourism is a big strength in our tourism industry. India
is a great threat for our domestic tourism also.
Beach tourism is one of the major earning source of our tourism but we have some
socio problem in our beach tourism, Goa is a beach area of India and they can offer
better facilities than us.
 India is also so much popular for its amusement park and its events. They have
successfully organized a good amount of sports and cultural events. Their electronic
media and film industries is so much better than us so that’s why they can organized
batter program than us.

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 Source countries for foreign tourist arrivals in India in 2013

Rank Country Number Share in %

1 United States 1,085,309 15.58

2 United Kingdom 809,444 11.62

3 Bangladesh 524,923 7.53

4 Sri Lanka 262,345 3.77

5 Russia 259,120 3.72

6 Canada 255,222 3.66

7 Germany 252,003 3.62

8 France 248,379 3.56

9 Malaysia 242,649 3.48

10 Japan 220,283 3.16

Total of top 10 4,159,677 59.70

Other countries 2,807,924 40.30

Grand total 6,967,601 100

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32
33
Our political problems
34
In financial year of 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 our tourism industrialist have faced trouble for
our political violence. On that violence our medium and small enterprise of this industry are
faced so much problem. Our sub industries transportation and accommodation are so much
damaged. It is a big threat for our domestic, inbound and out bound tourism. It also create a
bad effect I our local and national economic growth. We hope that our rural party and other
political parties will solve this situation.

Bottom line
Our tourism industry is our one kinds of rising industry so it is the high time to think about
weakness and about our future threat and try to use our strength in a right way. We need to
work together for a better position. If we can do that we will be get a better position in world
ranking.

Reference:

 Annual report of WTTC.

 Travel and action plan India.
 Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, People Republican Bangladesh
 Bangladesh Tourism Board
 Wikipedia
 Weki Travel

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