SIHABUR RAHMAN

COASTAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

CASE STUDY COX’S BAZAR, BANGLADESH

Thesis
CENTRIA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES
DEGREE PROGRAMME IN TOURISM
MAY 2015
ABSTRACT

CENTRIA UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED Date Author/s

SCIENCES, May 2015 MD Sihabur Rahman
Kokkola-Pietarsaari Unit
Degree programme
Tourism

Name of thesis
COASTAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
CASE STUDY COX’S BAZAR, BANGLADESH
Instructor Pages
[41+1]

Supervisor
Sara Åhman

Bangladesh is a small developing country in South Asia, known as the undiscovered gem
of Asia, it is not haunted by the tourists like other South Asian countries. It has a lot of
attractions to offer the tourists but it is less popular due to lack of publicity. Cox‟s Bazaar
is a great blessing for Bangladesh, it is a small town of Bangladesh by the Bay of Bengal
with a 125 kilometer long unbroken sandy sea beach that is the largest in the world. It is
very popular to tourists for its clear shark free safe water, which is best for people who
love to swim in the open sea.
The aim of the thesis was to find out possible developments for Cox‟s Bazar. The thesis is
divided into two parts, first one is the theoretical part with developments theories and facts
and the second part is the interview from different persons related to tourism in Cox‟s
Bazar. Books, websites, E-books, materials available in internet, and journals were used to
collected the data for the theoretical part. This part gave an overview of different steps and
conditions towards the development for this coastal area and the current situation of
existing tourism market.
The result of this research has answered a few important questions. Data obtained by the
interview to the persons related to Cox‟s Bazar did not only show the developments for
services and infrastructure in Cox‟s Bazar, but also demonstrated the relation between
development and proper marketing and the contribution of marketing to boost the
development process. It has shown the lack and what to do in the future to overcome the
impediments to make Cox‟s Bazar popular globally.

Key words
Tourism destination development, coastal tourism development, tourism destination
marketing, Cox‟s Bazar, Bangladesh
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION 1

2 TOURISM DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT 3

2.1 Definition of tourism destinations 3
2.2Tourism as a factor in regional development 6
2.3 Marketing and management 7
2.4 Importance of management and marketing in the development process 8
2.5 Marketing strategies 9
2.6 Current marketing trends 10
2.7 Sustainable tourism: tourism growth vs. tourism development 11

3 TOURISM IN BANGLADESH 13
3.1 Scope of Bangladesh tourism industry 14
3.2 Possibility and development 15
3.3The magnitude and economic importance of coastal tourism 17
3.4 Opportunities of coastal areas in Bangladesh 18
3.5 Tourism in Cox’s Bazaar 19

4 RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATION 21
4.1 Qualitative research 22
4.2 Data collection method 22
4.3 Semi structured interview 23
4.4 Text analysis 23
4.5 Validity and reliability 24

5 RESULT 26
5.1 Presenting interviews 26
5.2 SWOT analysis 30
5.3 SWOT analysis of tourism development in Bangladesh 31
5.4 Outcomes of the SWOT analysis 33
5.5 Main findings 33
5.6 Recommendations for the future 35

6 CONCLUSIONS 37

REFERENCES 39

APPENDIX
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1 INTRODUCTION

Bangladesh is one of the few countries in South Asia, which remains to be explored. It is a
small but very beautiful country which is located in the north-eastern part of South Asia.
Bangladesh has a delicate and distinctive attraction of its own. It has many popular tourist
destinations and attractions, including historical mosques and sites and monuments,
archaeological sites, world‟s longest sea beach, hilly areas and forests of Sunderban and
wildlife in the Chittagong hilly area, tribes, miles of rolling tea gardens of world famous brands
and islands. This amazing land is like a painter's dream come true with a rich tapestry of colors
and texture. It's a land of enormous beauty where the tourist wants to visit again and again.

Development is a broad idea, and the topic of the thesis chosen by the author is related to
tourism destination development. The whole research focused on some certain issues on the
development process. However, the main aim was to outline the development of coastal
tourism development in Bangladesh but this thesis also discussed additional themes like
strengths, weakness, threats and opportunities of this area.

The thesis is divided in two main parts. The first part is the theoretical part what is based on the
development process and the second one is the result of the research. The thesis is presented in
several chapters. The first chapter is to introduce the present tourism situation in Bangladesh.
The second one explained the development process and steps, important key factors that play
the role in tourism destination development. The third chapter is to show the overall image
about Bangladesh and the topic destination Cox‟s Bazar. The fourth chapter based on the
research and research methods used in this thesis. It showed the implementation of the research
methods to achieve the goal of the thesis. And finally result of the research is presented in fifth
chapter. Based on the interview obtained from interviewees related to Cox‟s Bazar, this chapter
outlined the main findings and future recommendations. Qualitative research method is used in
this thesis and semi structured interviews were taken by the author to obtain information and
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finally text was analyzed to get the results. The interviews dealt with different questions
regarding the development and the contribution of marketing in the development process.
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2 TOURISM DESTINATION DEVELOPMENT

The development of a tourist destination must be comprehensive, adapted to the changes,

balanced and sustainable and helps to optimize economic and social development of the
residents, preserving the cultural and natural heritage and satisfying both the needs of visitors
as local population. The training of tourism professionals, both continuous and initial, is
certainly a strategic element to face the changes that are happening in the sector. (tourisk, 2004)
This chapter is going to be an outline for tourism destination development. The element and
steps are discussed in this chapter. It will also discuss about the importance of the marketing
and current marketing strategies for destination development.

2.1 Definition of tourism destinations

A tourist destination can be defined as any travel destination that appeals to a large number of
tourists. People visit these destinations either to see natural wonders, historical sites, or
buildings. Some tourist destinations have activities such as games and rides that attract visitors.
Historical sites are commonly considered tourist destinations because some things of historical
significance happened in those places. Some of the things that can be considered as historical
tourist attractions were battlegrounds and monuments. Apart from historical sites, there are
beautiful natural creations that are considered tourist attractions. Those who visit such areas are
able to see beautiful natural wonders such as canyons and waterfalls. A good example is how
many people visit Niagara Falls (one of the seven natural wonders of the world) yearly.
(Richard 2006, 235.)

A tourist destination can only promote the products and services that it has. As a result of this,
the destination development needs to be a continuous process of development and coordination
of facilities, amenities, services and products that can help the host communities to offer quality
services and experiences for the tourists and enhance their personal well-being. Tourism
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destination development process involves setting objectives, assessment of the destination,

evaluation and setting priorities and lastly implementation. (Wisegeek, 2015) These processes
are discussed below.

Before beginning the development process clear objectives need to be set, these objectives
should clearly state what the destination intends to achieve and what the major outcomes are
expected from the destination‟s development process. The objectives should not just be for the
development process but should extend to the type of tourism targeted and the market the
destination is aiming to attract. During objective setting, it is also important to identify ways of
extending the benefits from the tourism destination around and directly to the host community.
It is also important to note the high and low peak seasons, the extending length of stay, and
what the local visitors are willing to pay for the services and products. Another important factor
that needs to be taken into consideration should be the people within the community that are
going to contribute to the destination‟s development process as well as all the partners and the
stakeholders. Knowing these important aspects is vital for a significant market research.
(Richard & David 2002, 35)

After having known the objectives of the destination, there is a need to carry out a broad and
accurate assessment of the tourism assets and resources that the destination has. Some of the
resources and assets that a destination can have include attractions, product gaps and lifecycles,
local character/sense of place, experiences, trails and market research, strengths and
weaknesses, past marketing, way finding, skill base, network links & stakeholder issues, and
competitor context among others. If the destination developers desire they can audit
destination‟s visitor services and market communication as part of the inventory process to
assess their present quality, effectiveness and impact. The assessment of the destination helps
test how the development process is working with the identified visitor‟s market. When this is
done a more realistic picture showing the destination‟s true tourism potential starts to emerge.
From this picture, the demand/supply links and opportunities and in gap development can
accurately be determined. The assessment process is a very delicate process that should be
undertaken in complete consultation with all the relevant partners and stakeholders. (Richard &
David 2002, 38)
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During the destination assessment process, reviews and audits are made; the audits are then
used in the strategic evaluation of any development issues that arose during the assessment and
the options as well as the suggested actions by other stakeholders. People can have very many
different development options but it is important to carefully evaluate all the options and select
the most suitable option. Basically the chosen option should be imaginative, easily achievable,
impactful and much rewarding. During this stage, the development advantages and
disadvantages as well as costs and benefits of this process has to the destination and to the host
community should be determined and considered as part of the analysis. Due to the complexity
of this stage, it needs good experience and strong strategic insight due to the fact that naturally
the resources are limited and the investment returns are being sought. The finally adopted
strategies should therefore be realistically aligned with the fulfillment of the project‟s goals;
being market oriented; use of project resources to best effect; and putting much focus on where
the community energy and funding is already flowing and what can facilitate a worthy
development outcome. (Richard & David 2002, 40)

Apart from the social, environmental and economic issues, there are some actions that may
need much attention especially due to the power of their logic and their ability to gain wide
support. To ensure that the destination development program runs smoothly and to ensure the
project‟s effectiveness, all the activities and actions of the project should be assessed and
evaluated for their ability to be beneficial when integrated with other development activities
that occur locally, nationally or regionally.(Richard & David 2002, 40.)

If the project activities and actions can be integrated with other local, national or regional
development projects then they can help addressing most people‟s needs. It is only with
specific goals and strategies that a tourist destination development can be successful and give
return to the investments. As it is commonly said, “success breeds success” if the destination
development is successful, it will surely help bring large number of visitors even in future.
(Richard & David 2002, 42)

The implementation phase requires a lot of resources. There is need for presence of effective
leadership at the local level. It is important to ensure that there are suitable project product
leaders in the implementation process who can ensure that everything runs smoothly. The main
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stakeholders of the project should show a great level of commitment and have a sense of
ownership to ensure the success of its implementation. There should also be regular monitoring
of the project‟s progress by the management to identify gaps or setbacks and correct them.
When the project is fully operational there should be constant review of its effectiveness.
(Richard & David 2002, 44)

2.2 Tourism as a factor in regional development

Tourism has come out as important element in regional development. Tourism‟s social and
economic impacts are not only felt at the local level where tourism occurs, but also at the
regional level. Tourism is the main source of jobs in the localities where tourism activities take
place. Additionally, tourism growth plays a major role in giving the less developed regions
equal access opportunities to the benefits of its growth (Babu 2008, 25). With regard to this,
there is need for exists the challenge of coming up with mechanisms that can improve quality
and competitiveness of tourism at local and regional level as well as ensuring balanced and
sustainable tourism at national levels.

Tourism development at regional level can catalyze new dynamics that help improve the
general economic growth. It can also significantly contribute to improved land use and
planning by attracting more people to new regions where tourism in developing to avoid
overpopulation in the urban areas. The relationship that exists between the tourism and regional
development has clearly been presented in different studies especially by Rayan (2010, 39-40)
and Stabler (2010, 22).

Raina and Agarwal ( 2004) in their research investigated the local and place based factors that
influenced development of tourism and tried to explain why tourism regions developed faster
than other regions. Huybers (2007) and Telfer & Sharpley (2008) put much focus on the less
developed countries and have brought up many assumptions regarding the role tourism had in
development. They went further and highlighted the challenges faced by destinations that seek
to achieve development via tourism (Huybers 2007, 43-45) and (Telfer, &Sharpley 2008, 111).
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Some scholars have tried to provide a significant approach within a multi-disciplinary

framework to oversee the complexity in tourism development (Ramos &Jimènez 2008, 68-69).

In the past two decades, large regional variations have emerged in the quality of life within
many economies in transition (Bartlett 2010, 121-162). However tourism was seen as the
sunrise for these economies as the industry is very labor intensive and thus it provides
employment opportunities in large numbers. These countries have diverted much attention to
the economic potential of the tourism industry to help in the regional development. Owing to
the relationship that exists between tourism and food, some authors such as Bessire (1998, 21-
34) identified opportunities in product development as a way of achieving rural diversification.
On the other hand Pearce & Butler examined the current issues and reasons behind tourism
development as strategies of developing more urban areas and providing a foundation for more
informed tourism integration in regional development (Pearce & Butler 2002, 102).
Additionally, there are some discussions that have focused on different policy innovation as
activities that should be done at regional levels due to the impacts of tourism growth which is
not only felt at the local but also at the regional level (Giaoutzi, &Nijkamp 2006, 98-103).
Similarly, with the close link between tourism and regional development, both the local and
regional authorities have to play significant role in policy formulation, organization and
tourism development (Constantin 2000, 56).

2.3 Marketing and management

The term „marketing‟ comes from the marketing-speaking world. The origin of the word is
"Market". As the market is formed as a seller's to a buyer's service, the destinations were forced
to adjust their market services to the needs of consumers and marketing activities. Marketing
can therefore be described as systematic, market-oriented conception of the company. It has to
explore the task to penetrate existing markets and exploit new markets and develop as well.
However, the marketing for a destination has many special features. Marketing refers to a
variety of actions or activities carried out by an organization or individual to bring its products
or services to the public. The role of marketing in a business or organization is to find
customer‟s needs and produce the product or services to satisfy the customers‟ needs.
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Destination marketing is a very important element in achievement of the destination‟s goals

and objectives in order to maintain a successful tourist destination (Palmer &Bejou 1995, 616-
629). Destination marketing involves also marketing of the destination‟s products that can
attract tourists.

On the other hand, destination management deals with the administration of all the demands
and supply of tourism products within a specific tourism destination. Howie (2003) states that
managing destinations ensures that there are the destination has the perfect blend of all the
products and services that customers would need. In this regard, they state that destination
management should have much of their attention on the things that would negatively affect
tourists experience at these destinations (Howie 2003, 7-13).

2.4 Importance of management and marketing in the development process

Well managed destinations are often sustainable and thus have the potential to continue
contributing to the economy and to grow. Proper destination management also provides the
opportunity to maximize the benefits of tourism growth in these destinations. Continuous
growth in these destinations further presents more room for job opportunities thus improving
the many livelihoods. Due to the benefits these destinations provide the local community such
as job opportunities, effective management can therefore mean providing job security to the
locals being that there is no likelihood of failure which can result to loss of jobs. (Buhalis 2000,
97).

As seen earlier, destination management focuses much attention to the things that would
negatively impact visitors experience; however, this does not only contribute to the
development of experience for the visitors as it also enhances environmental protection and
support the local community‟s interests. Marketing is important in that it helps create
awareness of the destinations. It is not easy for all the potential destination visitors to be aware
of different destinations thus by marketing the places they become aware and may definitely
want to visit the destination. Marketing does not only make people aware of the destinations
but they also give the audience a good reason to visit the areas. In other words, marketing helps
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motivate people to visit the new places as it majorly taps what can really be appealing to
potential visitors (Buhalis 2000, 97-116).

Good marketing strategies can help influence and change visitors‟ views and perception about a
place and make them want to visit these destinations. Strategies such as hosting the Olympics
or football games can make people visit even after the games are over. When it comes to
visiting a place, travelers normally want to receive the best hospitality services and products.
With this in mind, tourism marketing can play a significant role in showing the outsiders what
that particular destination can offer and the hospitality standards of the places. This type of
marketing can help convince potential visitors that they will receive hospitality services of the
best standards (Islam 2012, 56).

2.5 Marketing strategies

Marketing strategies or trading strategies consist of actions carried out to achieve specific goals
related to marketing, such as to provide a new product, increase sales or achieve greater market
share. Marketing also refers to cost leadership, product diversification, positioning, satisfaction
and image measurement, market segmentation and product development. The implementation
of these strategies could be adapted to the field of destination competitiveness.
(Metin&Seyhmus 2011, 133)

To make or design marketing strategies, as well as taking into account our goals, resources and
capacity, we must first analyze our target audience, so that based on this analysis strategy can
be fixed; for example, an analysis on their needs or desires, habits etc. But besides analyzing
our target, also we must first analyze the competition, so that based on this analysis we can, for
example, to design strategies that allow us to capitalize on their weaknesses, or based on the
strategies they are using and best results are giving them. Marketing strategies refers to any
organization's strategy that brings together all the marketing goals into one plan. Any good
marketing strategy is drawn from an organization‟s market research. Once this is done the right
product mix is developed so that the maximum profit potential can be achieved and the
business sustained. (Green 1995, 72)
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2.6 Current Marketing Trends

Sales or price promotion is one of the common and important marketing strategies that most
marketers are focusing on today and is also a significant element in the market mix. The rise in
competitive markets has resulted into an increase in price promotions. In addition, price
promotion is one of the most used marketing tools that support other marketing tools such as
advertisements to attract more customers (Green 1995, 83-92). Promotion is among the 4Ps of
marketing representing the marketing mix. These include Product, Price, Place & Promotion.
(Kotler & Armstrong 2010, 76-77)

Promotion in the tourism industry simply means communication with the general public to
influence them to buy services or products. Just like other promotions, tourism promotions also
include all the different ways that could make the service or product available and become well
known and purchased by consumers. Good promotions help destinations, hotels, and
restaurants reach new customers regardless of where they are. (Kotler, Bowen, & Makens,
1999, 55). In as much as promotions in the tourism industry are meant to make the business
develop, consumers too respond differently in the hospitality promotions.

Consumers of hospitality services or those who like some leisure time in hotels or beautiful
tourist destinations can take advantage of the promotions and discount prices to spend their
time in the hotels and destinations that offer discounts. On the other hand, those who may have
wished to purchase some of the services and have never managed due to the high prices can
also respond by taking advantage of the lowered prices of the services. During these hospitality
promotions more often, we find families having vacations or traveling together to these dream
destinations which due to the price promotions they can afford. (Kotler, Bowen, & Makens,
1999, 55).
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Other marketing strategies that are commonly used apart from price promotion include liaising
with other private organizations or firms within the tourism sector to promote a country‟s
coastal areas as vacation destinations. Destinations can also allow modeling agencies to
perform photo or video shoots that would be globally televised to advertise the areas and
provide them with more competitive advantage. Lastly, managers of these destinations can
create websites that can be easily accessed worldwide to display the beauty of these coastal
areas and various attractions that can appeal to visitors.

2.7 Sustainable tourism: tourism growth vs. tourism development

Nature has been generous to provide us with a good environment to live, spend free time and
work. Countries with distinctive and long coastlines are considered more privileged because
they have a more valuable space that can be used to develop tourism that will eventually
contribute to social and economic development at both local and regional scale (Liu 2003, 459-
475). From this a clear distinction can be made tourism development and growth especially
having known that the two often incorrectly seen as similar. While tourism growth is measured
in terms of the number of tourist arrivals, overnight stays, among others, it does not adequately
contribute to the economic prosperity of the place. On the other hand tourism development
refers to the increase in local community‟s income, employment, and improved environmental
benefits, thereby implying need for development planning to be carried out in accordance with
the receiving community‟s carrying capacity (Tosun 2001, 289-303).

Tourism is commonly known as one of the major revenue sources for many countries and
regions. The ability of tourism to quickly attract economic profits and to bring large sums of
capital has led to the exploitation of many coastal areas for tourism and significant amount of
uncontrolled development of tourism activities has been experienced. According to EEA( 2001)
the general growth in tourism and especially tourism in the coastal areas is associated with the
improvements in transportation systems, increased personal incomes and leisure time and
greater public awareness of world destinations due to improved communications. This rapid
growth in coastal tourism has exerted a lot of pressure on the both environmental and cultural
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resources of coastal zones and has negatively impacted the social, cultural and economic value
of tourist destinations (EEA, 2001).

In the face of the current tourism growth trends, the managers and investors in tourism have
become aware that sustainability is a major factor in the coastal areas since the success of
tourism activities in these areas entirely depend on the quality of the fragile and sensitive
environments. In the current days, most tourists seek different experiences ranging from natural
and cultural attractions to sports, and gastronomy among others in a well-managed and
preserved natural environment. Similarly those living in the traditional tourist destinations are
very much aware of and are concerned about their historic, environmental and cultural heritage
and thus calling for integration of sustainability issues in development and growth of tourism
(Coast Learn 2009). In reference to this, there is need to limit growth of tourism, enhance the
tourism products to attract diverse clientele and upgrade the quality of services and products
offered. This allows for tourism development that satisfies both the tourists and those who
depend on it for a living. This is UNWTO‟s definition of sustainable tourism. (UNWTO, 2011)
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3 TOURISM IN BANGLADESH

Bangladesh is rich in enormous beauty, it has many serpentine rivers, abundant tropical rain
forests, crystal clear water lakes all surrounded by ever green hills, wind in the paddy fields,
world‟s largest mangrove forest which is preserved as a world heritage, abundance of sunshine,
and world‟s longest natural sea beach. The country is also a home for the royal Bengal tiger and
the wild lives among other wildlife. Bangladesh has been identified by many people on the map
as a tourist destination. The enormous beauty the country offers has created a great potential for
tourism in the country. Even though Bangladesh has great potential for tourism; it has failed in
many cases to reach its tourism potential due to inadequate marketing strategies and practices.
If proper market planning and strategies are developed and implemented for the country‟s
tourism sector, tourism can add significant value to the country‟s economy. (Ahmed & Arafat,
1986, 11-13)

Tourism has been identified as the most profitable business globally and has become one of the
key international trade categories. Bangladesh has a great opportunity and potential of
becoming a tourist nation. Tourism industry provides more job opportunities as compared to
other industries. With the increase in population in the country, there has been an increase in
unemployment rates. Being that the country has a high labor-intensive economy, it is important
that other employment opportunities should be created which the tourism industry can offer to a
greater degree more than others. With many people visiting Bangladesh today, the country is
trying to develop its tourism status to be able to compete in both the local and global market.
As a result of this, both the government and the private sector are trying to work together to
develop the tourism sector by putting much emphasis on marketing. (Chowdhury 2011, 49)

Every year a lot of international tourists visit Bangladesh and the number of tourist are
increasing day by day. It is true that Bangladesh gets less international tourist than India and
Nepal, but the situation is changing fast, because of easy communication with the world. The
national airport has connection with important airports of the world. The service of tourism
providers is very professional now. There are a lot of hotels, motels to accommodate guests.
And now one very important thing is the tourism related services spread to many places equally
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what was unavailable to remote areas previously. Even tourism facilities now available in very
remote area, such as Kuakata (one of the tourist destination in Bangladesh, popular sea beach
located at coastal area) Tourism organizations and agents in national and international level are
very active to promote and create a positive image of Bangladeshi tourism, beside this many
people and agents are working locally, for instance we can say, in the destinations a lot of local
people are working as a tourist guide. They work with official guide from tourism organization.
Normally tourism operators manage transport for international tourist but it is also possible to
go to a destination by local transportation company. The airline companies are operating
several flights to popular destinations and now a days they have their own tourism packages,
tourist can buy their packages with ticket. The airlines companies are maintaining an
international standard of quality for their service. (BPC 2015)

3.1 Scope of Bangladesh tourism industry

Tourism in most cases is always seen to be the similar to travelling to different destinations
either for pleasure education or any other business. Some people also refer to it as the business
of attracting travelers and offering them good entertainment and accommodation. Tourism
industry in many countries is commonly known for earning the country foreign exchange and
for contributing to Inland Revenue (Durbarry 2002, 862-865). Tourism development has
brought with it other growth of some businesses such as hotels and restaurants, travel agents,
airlines, tour operations among others which all significantly contribute to a country‟s cultural
diversity and assimilation as well as overall economic development.

Bangladesh as a country has attracted many visitors since the ancient years. Bangladesh has
received visitors with varied purposes from different parts of the world for a very long time.
Some of the travelers were missionaries, some were simply interested in exploring available
business opportunities in the country, and some came for learning purposes while others simply
to meet their curiosity. Among the many countries in South Asia, Bangladesh still remains to
be explored due to the distinctive and delicate attractions it offers to visitors (Wong 1991, 28).
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The country has earned its branding name as “beautiful Bangladesh” from its reputation and the
enormous beautiful resources and the many opportunities it offers people from other parts of
the world. Today the major goal of the country is to keep establishing a good image for the
country and to attract more tourists to visit its natural beauties and tourist spots such as Cox‟s
Bazar, Jaflong, Kuakata, the Sundarbans, and its historical sites e.g. Sonargaon, Moynamoti,
Bagerhat, Mahasthangar among others. (BPC 2015)

There has been a significant increase in the number of tourist arrivals in the country which has
seen the tourism sector of the country increasingly becoming a good foreign currency earner.
Tourism in Bangladesh is not only common among international tourists but the locals are also
taking part to promote their industry by visiting and going for holidays in the country‟s coastal
zones. The increase in the number of tourist arrival to Bangladesh has seen an increase in
demand for appropriate accommodation facilities. Being that visitors have different tastes and
preferences, the country is trying as much as it can to meet all these demands to ensure that the
visitors have the best experience they are looking for. Most of the visitors that come to
Bangladesh do not only come to visit their families, but they also come for holiday with great
expectation to have a good experience. (Assignmentpoint, 2015)

3.2 Possibility and development

Bangladesh is a developing country and its tourism sector is also developing. As mentioned
earlier it is a foreign currency earner sector and a sector that is changing so rapidly. The
tourism industry is really a young line of business in this country, where the development
mainly has been left to the local market forces. Now-a-days this market has both national and
international tourist actors competing for the existing market, basically composed of a national
tourism market and a international business market.( BPC 2015)
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If we compare Bangladesh tourism in South Asian tourism map, we will see the other countries
are clearly ahead now, but it is true that Bangladesh has better infrastructure and ability than
some other countries. Now-a-day‟s tourists are more interested in visiting Bangladesh while
they are travelling to other South Asian countries. (BPC 2015)

Tourism in Bangladesh is still dominated by the Bangladesh Tourism Organization. They are
trying very hard to develop and to promote this sector by creating facilities for the tourists. But
for the economic gain it is very important to get large-scale investment especially from the
private sector and for this government should encourage and ensure the future of investment.
There is huge scope for future prospects and possibilities for development of tourism business
in Bangladesh. If BPC (Bangladesh Parjaton Corporation, national tourism organization of
Bangladesh) develop the products, marketing strategy and systematically promote the tourism,
more and more visitors would be attracted to travel to this small country. Different tourism
facilities have been developed in many of the popular tourist attractions by Bangladesh national
Tourism Corporation, other government, semi-government and private agencies. The
Government of Bangladesh makes an outline and formulated the National Tourism Policy. The
main purpose and goal of this policy is to attract domestic and international investment in
tourism sector. As a result of this step investors are encouraged and getting both domestic and
international investments in tourism business of Bangladesh. For the successful development of
Bangladesh tourism industry, these local strategies are very crucial: visions, missions, goals
and policies for this line of business and without this the development is almost unbalanced. A
good plan, promotion and modern marketing strategy can create a certain future where
unbalanced something is very dangerous what may destroy the development process and the
great existing tourism image. For this, certainly experienced international tourism actors and
organizations can play a greater role. Initiatives from government and private sector can control
tourism development at national and local level as well as introduce initiatives to strengthen the
influence of local communities. The history of Bangladesh indicates that the private sector
should have a great impact if the national tourism development is to be sustainable and
consistent. (BPC 2015)
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The future tourism development strategy should have two main goals. Firstly; the sustainable
development is very much needed with economic, cultural and environmental considerations.
The term sustainable can be determined as: “Development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. As almost
everything has two different effects, tourism has also both positive and negative influence on a
destination the phenomena and control of a sustainable development is complex. Normally,
every destination has an ultimate sustainable load, but a general and objective definition of this
sustainable limit do not exist. The second aim for a Bangladeshi tourism strategy is that actions
should be taken to increase the tourist income by raising the numbers of tourists. From this
point of view it is obvious to focus on existing local markets as well as to aim for the
traditionally profitable inbound tourist market. The low existing inbound tourism demand
indicates that fundamental product and promotion improvement is required.(Chowdhury 2011,
60-65)

3.3 The magnitude and economic importance of coastal tourism

Tourism significantly contributes to many countries economic activities. According to

UNWTO‟s statistics, tourism is the largest industry in the world with regard to the economic
profit it brings and the number of people involved in it (UNWTO, 2007). Even though there is
no consistent data specifically on coastal tourism, it is regarded as one of the fastest growing
type of tourism in the past decades. Again, WTO‟s statistics shows that out of 115 world‟s
leading destinations in 2000, 12 of them were countries with coastlines. This statement is
supported in Bridges (1997) reports that states that 3 coastal areas of the United States (Florida,
California, and New York) received 74% of the total overseas visitors to the United States in
1995, thereby generating 85% of revenue associated with tourism (Bridges 1997).

Mediterranean Basin is another important example. Even though it is difficult to extrapolate

data from statistics collected in these countries, the WTO approximates that the coastal areas of
Mediterranean Basin alone received about 250 million visitors in 2008. A prediction by Blue
Plan (2005), states that this number was likely to increase to 312 million by 2025 (Blue Plan,
2005). The European Environment Agency (EEA, 2005) states that during tourism peak, tourist
 18

population in the Mediterranean coast of Spain and France reached 2,300 tourists per square
kilometer, which doubled the numbers of the winter season (EEA, 2005).

From these it is notable that coastal tourism has significant economic importance. A study
conducted by Wilson and Wheeler (1997) showed that coastal tourism in California is the
state‟s largest economy contributor followed by ports and offshore oil. European Environment
Agency (EEA) data for France, for example, shows that tourism sector provides about 43% of
jobs in French coastal regions, thereby generating more income than shipping or fishing.
Coastal tourism sector in other parts of the world are similarly growing in importance with
regard to their contribution and magnitude contribution to national economies as well as to the
local communities‟ wellbeing.

3.4 Opportunities of coastal areas in Bangladesh

The coastal area of Bangladesh covers 19 districts and faces the Bay of Bengal or is close to the
bay. The exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Bay is in general perceived as a zone full of
multiple vulnerabilities. Even though the Government has identified it as vulnerable to the
ecological adverse processes and as one of the neglected regions, its opportunities and
potentials have not been given much attention. The exploitation and harnessing of this zone‟s
opportunities can help reduce poverty rate in the country thereby achieving the national goal of
poverty reduction strategy. Some of Bangladesh‟s coastal area‟s opportunities are discussed
below. (BPC 2015)

At Cox's Bazar a lot of potential exists in development of other road and railway networks. Of
the seven Bangladesh‟s operational airports, four of them are located in the coastal areas (Cox's
Bazar, Jessore, Chittagong and Barisal) which have also facilitated the economic expansion.
These airports in Bangladesh predominantly Cox's Bazar, Jessore, and Chittagong significantly
contribute to tourism by offering tourists transportation services to various tourist destinations
present within the surrounding areas of the airports, such as, the Sundarban, Chittagong Hill
Tracts and Cox's Bazar.(BPC 2015)
 19

As mentioned before, tourism is an important economic activity due to its significant

contribution to GDP (Sinclair 1998, 1-51). Tourism is also considered as one of the fastest
growing industry. The annual average growth rate for restaurants and hotels since 1998 to 2003
was 7% (MoF, 2003). Even though tourism has influenced infrastructure being developed at
Cox's Bazar, Sundarban, and Kuakata. A lot of potential is still present for eco-tourism
development in Sundarban and in other environmental areas, such as Sonadia Island and St.
Martin's Island. Some regional tourism infrastructure can be built in collaboration with
Myanmar at Teknaf to provide day trips to St. Martin's Islands, visiting Myanmar and
Bangladeshi coast, and cruising over Naaf River among others. This opportunity provides great
potential in regard to the growing domestic demand. (BPC 2015)

Cox‟s Bazaar is one the most popular tourist destinations in Bangladesh. Cox's Bazaar is a
town, a fishing port and a district located by the Bay of Bengal. It has several tourist attractions,
but it is very popular for its wide unbroken sandy beach which is the world's longest natural sea
beach. It is an unbroken 125 km sandy sea beach with a gentle slope. It is located 150 km south
of Chittagong city. Cox‟s Bazaar is also known by the name "Panowa", the literal translation of
which means "yellow flower". Its other old name were "Palongkee". The modern Cox's Bazaar
derives its name from Captain Cox, an officer serving in British India. Although Cox's Bazaar
is one of the most visited tourist destinations in Bangladesh, it has yet to become a major
international tourist destination, due to lack of proper publicity. (Chittagong website 2012)

3.5 Tourism in Cox’s Bazaar

The main attraction of Cox's Bazaar is the long beach that starts from the Bakkhali river going
all the way to Teknaf (a very well-known place in Bangladesh). Although commonly known as
Cox's Bazaar beach, it stretches far beyond the area designated as Cox's Bazaar town. Cox‟s
Bazaar is visited by a large number of tourists from Britain, America, Korea, Japan, India,
Nepal, Pakistan, Europe and many other countries each year. Though there is no record kept by
 20

the Bangladesh Porjatan Corporation (BPC) on how many people visit the beach annually, but
from the AFP report we came to know that there are 10,000 available rooms in the beach area.
There are very expensive 5 star hotels to accommodate incoming tourists. But there are so
many hotels, motels, inns and banglows to provide reasonable accommodation for all kinds of
tourists. Some private hotels, Motels and two Five star hotels are located very near the beach.
From these hotels it is very easy to enjoy the beauty of beach and sunset. (BPC 2012)

Cox‟s Bazar has several attractions. The Laboni point sea beach is very popular to tourists
because it is the main beach of Cox's Bazaar and it is located very close to the town. Around
the beach, there are enough temporary food shops and small shops selling souvenirs and beach
accessories to the visitors. Due to large number of visitors the management of this beach is
better than other beaches. Himchari beach is located about 18 km south of Cox‟s Bazaar; it is
also very popular for its very natural view with small hills and forests. People mainly come
here for picnic. This place is really nice for the big picnic parties and film shooting. This picnic
spot is famous for its waterfalls. The road to Himchari runs by the open sea on one side and
hills on the other which makes the journey to Himchari very attractive. There are plenty of
Christmas trees in the forest. Enani Beach is located 35 km south of Cox‟s Bazaar. This beach
is famous for its golden sand and clean shark free water which is ideal for sea bathing. Most
tourists prefer to come down here for relaxing because it is free from the over crowdness of
tourist that is usually seen at the Laboni beach. (Goabroad 2011)

Cox‟s Bazar is also popular to the tourists for natural sea foods. Tourists have the opportunity
to make their choice from different options. With different kind of fish other sea foods such as
squids, huge lobster, crabs are also popular among tourists. Much like other coastal areas it has
a lot of coconut trees with huge coconuts and sweet coconut water is also considered as interest
for international tourists. (BPC 2015)
 21

4 RESEARCH IMPLEMENTATION

The research method can be defined as the collection of data and information for the dedicated
purpose of making decisions. The method might comprise of publication research, surveys,
interviews and other research practices and could comprise of both present and historical
information. The main objective of the research method is to create fresh knowledge or to
extend the understanding of a current issue or topic. The research is basically of three types.
Descriptive research; it is very common in the leisure and tourism area, for three reasons: the
newness of the field, the changing nature of the phenomena being studied, and the frequent
separation between research and action. The second one is Explanatory research; explaining
how or why things are as they are, it assists in the testing of theories as well as it proposes
solutions to the problems that are exist. And the last one is Evaluative research; it evaluates
policies and programmes. (Veal 2006, 1-4)

The aim of this chapter is to determine the description of research, research methods and
explain the research steps how the research was performed. The theoretical bases of these type
of research were examined. Everything is explained by details and all the topic is separated
with sub chapters. These sub chapters contain the introduction of research methods, explanation
of them, data collection methods and lattermost chapter explained the extents reliability and
validity in the field of this research. The outcome of the research is presented to next separated
chapter named: Findings and future recommendations. This section will give a good
understanding regarding the course of action associated with the research method.
 22

4.1 Qualitative research

The qualitative research is aimed to disclose a specific audience, range of behavior and the
observations that drive it along reference to definite topic and problems. This research method
uses detailed studies of small groups of individuals to guide and support the construction of
hypothesis. The outcome of the qualitative research are expressive rather than predictive. This
research has an objective of investigating a problem without the attempt to quantifiably
measure the variables. This research is considered as more restrictive in the hypothesis testing
as well as it can be exclusive and time consuming, and conventionally restricted to a solo set of
research subjects. The qualitative research is an expressive method that tries to gain a profound
understanding of specific contexts and cases. (Veal 2006, 193-195)

4.2 Data collection methods

For this thesis work qualitative research method is more preferable than quantitative research
method, because it has many sub types. Structured and semi-structured interview, in-depth or
unstructured interview, group interview, biographical methods and ethnography, participant
observation and text analysis are some common types of qualitative research methods. In this
research method, there are two different ways to collect data, first one is sequential way and
another one is the recursive way. For the recursive process, data collection and analysis is
occurring at the same time. In the sequential process, everything is done step by step. In this
process data is analyzed after the collection. (Veal 2006, 195-196)
 23

4.3 Semi-structured interview

The Semi-structured interview is the best utilized technique when there is no chance of getting
an interview more than once and numerous interviewers are sent to collect the data. The Semi-
structured interviews are frequently headed by observation, casual and amorphous interviewing
in demand to permit the researchers to advance a strong understanding of the subject of concern
essential for developing applicable and evocative semi-structured questions. The interviewer
and defendants to occupy in a prescribed interview and the interviewer develops and utilizes an
interview guide. The guide contains the list of queries and topics that are required to be covered
during the conversation. (Veal 2006, 197-198.)

4.4 Text analysis

The text analysis is the technique by which the researchers collect information and evidence
about the problem for which the research is conducted. This is the methodology of data
gathering process. The text analysis often makes the qualitative research easier and quicker by
emphasizing the significant terms and permitting the researcher to classify the open-ended
responses. After analyzing the responses of respondents, it assists the researchers to gain an
insight in to the outlooks, concerns, culture, behavior and inspiration of the respondents. (Veal
2006, 203-204)
 24

4.5 Validity and reliability

The term reliability can be technically defined as the degree to which a measured variable is
free from the arbitrary mistakes that happens as the measures are certainly not flawless and
reliability is often vulnerable. There are some main sources that threat the reliability such as
Transient States are the momentary oscillations in the contestant‟s mental condition; for
instance, some contestants might fulfill study in a bad mood after a fight with significant
others. Stable Individual Differences between the participants; for instance some participants
are routinely more motivated than others. Mistakes in Coding Responses through the data
entry; for instance, a handwritten 9 could be erroneous for 6. Situational Factors in the
supervision of the study; for instance, conducting the experiment in early morning might make
the participants grumpy or tired. (Veal 2006, 41)

This research on coastal tourism development on Cox‟s Bazar is categorized as reliable because
it is founded on real facts based on interviews and then analyzed. The interviewees were from
different sector related to Cox‟s Bazar like local resident, travel agent and tourist visited Cox‟s
Bazar recently. The interview was obtained by prepared question and the interviewees
expressed their opinions based on their involvements and experiences regarding Cox‟s Bazar.

Validity is an extent to which the information collected by the researcher truly reflects the
phenomenon being studied. The validity incorporates the complete experimental concept and
institutes whether the outcomes attained meet all of the requirements of the scientific research
method. Validity is threatened more by the systematic errors. For a test sample to be reliable, it
must also be valid, for instance, if the scale is off with 5 units then it means the reading will be
with an excess of 5 units. In this case, the scale is reliable but not valid as it adds an extra of 5
units to the sample. (Veal 2006, 41)
 25

For this research the interview was the same for the different interviewees. The interview
obtained from the people related to Cox‟s Bazar. This research was not only done by the
information obtained by the interviews but also from other sources such as websites, books,
journals, articles on the topic tourism developments and coastal tourism developments.
 26

5 RESULTS

The research was done by two steps, interview and text analysis. The interviewees presented as
follows: The local resident of Cox‟s Bazar is interviewee A, travel agent is B and the tourist is
C. All interviews took places between April 13- April 17, 2015. The interview is based on six
different themes. The first theme aimed to knowing about the potentialities of Cox‟s Bazar in
tourism sector. The second one was get to know about needed developmental work to make
Cox‟s Bazar more popular among tourist. Third one asked the interviewee how to get more
tourists; the following and fourth theme was to find out the developmental impediments. The
5th theme was based on the important question of this research about the contribution of
marketing in development process. In the last theme interviewees got chance to give any advice
they want.

5.1 Presenting interviews

Interviewee A is a local resident of Cox‟s Bazar,. The interview was taken by video chatting
software Skype. The questionnaire was sent to him before the interview to give him the
opportunity to know about themes and to get ready. The interview is presented.

Theme one:
Cox‟s bazar is one of the Bangladesh‟s leading costal area‟s mostly because of its
scenic beauty. Cox‟s bazar sea beach is the world‟s longest sea beach in the world
almost 164 km where crescent shaped low hills in one side and Bay of Bengal in
another side. There are many hotels, motels, guest houses, cottages, gift shops,
sea pearl shops available. Local people are involved with this kind of activities as
their professions and they lead their livelihood by this. If there are more tourists
visiting cox‟s bazar and that will increase more employment of local peoples
which also improve the national income. There are many places to visit for the
tourists, Kolatoli sea beach the most famous beach in cox‟s bazar, Himchori, one
of the beautiful places there where you can see the sea standing on a tall hills,
good restaurant where you can eat fresh fish, you can taste local foods.
 27

Theme two:
Cox‟s Bazar is full of natural beauty. There you can find forest, seal beach, nice
architectural buildings, and boat and so on. But cox‟s bazar is situated in the
northeast part of Bangladesh and the transport system is not smooth to go there. If
Government can make a smooth transport system to go to cox‟s bazar then many
more tourists will visit there. Sometimes some accidents also happen there by
local people and street boys. They steal tourist‟s bags, cameras, pick pocket. If the
security system of the sea beach can take place much more effectively than they
have right now will affect the tourist amount also. But last 4-5 years this kinds of
accidents decreases. There are many hotels, motels, cottage, and guest house. So
accommodation system is okay in my opinion.

Theme three:
If government and local people are a bit conscious about the natural property we
have in Cox‟s Bazar then many things can change for the tourist. Transport,
accommodation, safety should be the Government bodies thing and Bangladesh is
famous for their hospitality. If local people are a little bit careful about the
occurrence happens in the beach then the tourists feel much safer and feel free to
visit there.

Theme four:

The main impediments for the development of the Cox‟s Bazar are awareness.
Tourist brings all about 4% of our total economy each and every year. If
government is much more aware about the natural beauty and tourist spot of the
country then they will do more works regarding that spots.

Theme five:
Marketing has a big effect in development also. Many people doesn‟t know that
Cox‟s Bazar is the longest sea beach in the world and almost 164 km/200 nautical
mile of sea shore is there. If Bangladesh tourism sector or the responsible person
for that can do the marketing well and tourist knows about that place easily then I
hope the amount of the tourist in Cox‟s bazar will increase. Now-a-days
government has taken many steps for increasing the tourist and many online
videos are telecasted about the tourist spot in Bangladesh, some websites about
that where people can easily find everything, they increase 24 hours security in
the sea beach, petrol police is also there and because of that the place is much
safer now. And there are many international hotels and motels where people can
get a room so cheap like 10 euro per night, Bangladesh Government is thinking
about the tourist spots and they are taking many steps for that which will help
Bangladesh‟s national economy also for bringing more tourists in a year.
 28

Theme six:
Well, the suggestions I can give as a Bangladeshi, Bangladesh Government and
the Ministry regarding the tourist is already doing that. I can hope they should do
that immediately, as soon as they can. I believe people and tourist should be much
more aware about the wastes they use and most of the time they throw that wastes
on the ground. There are specific places and dustbins for that trash. Cox‟s bazar is
one of the most beautiful places in the world, you will like the place. Come to
visit Cox‟s bazar and feel free it‟s totally safe now.

Interviewee B is a travel agent working in Cox‟s Bazar for last few years. As he has a very busy
schedule and also living in Bangladesh currently the interview was taken by message in a well-
known social networking site. Much like the first interviewee the questions were sent to him
earlier to be prepared for the interview. The interview is as followed:

Theme one:
Because of natural beauties and good location, Cox‟s bazar can be a very popular
destination for the people from all over the world. Moreover, there is nice weather
in Bangladesh throughout the year. So, tourists from colder countries may find
this place a suitable destination to spend their winter vacation.

Theme two:
I think, Bangladesh is not a popular tourist destination because of its political
instability, safety, security and standard communication services. To make
Bangladesh or more specifically Cox‟s bazar a popular tourist‟s destination, first
we have to improve our internal services and political problems. If there is proper
safety and stable political condition, then tourist will feel interested to visit
Bangladesh. Because of some silly problems in our country, lots of tourists
choose Vietnam, Laos, or even Nepal instead of Bangladesh.

Theme three:
To encourage tourists to visit Cox‟s Bazaar, at first we need to clean the beach and
the sea water. We also have to ensure that there are enough guards to save the
tourists from any danger. We can also encourage the sea bikes and surfing in the
longest sea. We may also need to focus our attention towards the marketplace in
the beach. This should be well organized and decorated with crafts made from
snails, pears etc. We should also focus and plan a separate area for the tourists
 29

who plan to take a sun bath. We always have to check whether the tourists are
safe and whether they need any help or assistance.

Theme four:
Sometimes tourists think that Bangladesh is a crowded place and noisy. But in our
marketing process, we have to highlight that tourists can visit Cox‟s bazar or the
very beautiful hilly areas in Bangladesh without going to most crowded Dhaka
city. They can directly go to Cox‟s bazar or Chittagong without so much hassle
and enjoy the beauty of nature in a healthy environment.

Theme five:
To give proper information and updated development info to the tourists
marketing is very important. Many people may have preconceived ideas about
Bangladesh which is not true. We have to inform people that now there are very
good air transportation services from Dhaka to Chittagong. There are flights from
Dhaka to Chittagong in every hour which is cheap and quick. Information about
online booking for hotels and flights should be speeded all over the world. Then,
tourists will consider visiting this place and putting Cox‟s bazar in their travel
chart.

„
Theme six:
To improve tourism sector, we must have to provide neat and clean environment
to the tourists with quality food and other entertainment facilities like night life
and drinks for foreigners.

Interviewee C is a general tourist visited Cox‟s Bazar recently. This interview also obtained by
message in a social networking site and questions were sent earlier.

Theme one:
I would say Cox‟s bazar is a natural fit for any grand touristic endeavor. Not only
it has one of the longest undisturbed sea beaches in the world but it has so in a
grand fashion. The blue waters, the tropical climate, the people- warm and open,
and a vivacious town overseeing the ocean- it has all. From an overseas
perspective I would also add, Cox‟s bazar brings home the added charm of
exoticness, not everybody I assume would think Bangladesh as a tourist heaven,
but the ones which would take the leap, Cox‟s bazar awaits for them with her raw
unfiltered charm.
 30

Theme two:
The first thing comes to mind is the management of the beach, cleanliness and
security for the outsiders especially after dark. And perhaps installing some 'one-
stop service points' for tourists integrating all necessary aspects could be a good
deed.

Theme three:
I think using social media; the Bangladeshi nationals can do a decent job in
selling the Cox‟s bazar at people to people level. Since the word 'Bangladesh'
doesn't instantly chime with tourism, breaking the initial prejudice should be the
foremost task. Once we've done that and created a healthy interest in Bangladesh,
Cox‟s bazar might stand out on its own.

Theme four:
To me two issues stands out the most: a. the inability of the government to plan
long term, as a result many developmental projects are done in a haphazard
manner. b. Over commercialization, undermining the natural beauty.

Theme five:
Of course, we would need marketing to get the word out. Any developmental
projects we undertake marketing should be part of the game plan from the get go.

Theme six:

Cox bazar is nature's treasure; Bangladeshis are her custodian and should take it
as a privilege. With this in mind I would expect some form of campaign (perhaps
coming from the government or NGO's) raising awareness for proper preservation
of this marvel.

5.2 SWOT Analysis

SOWT Analysis refers to the technique commonly used by managers to evaluate organization‟s
current situation. SWOT analysis also helps managers create strategic plans for the
organizations or firms. SWOT analysis involves the analysis of an organization‟s internal
strengths and weaknesses as well as its external opportunities and threats (Hill, & Westbrook
1997, 46-52). SWOT analysis provides organizations with clear information and image of what
 31

they have the capacity to do in the future as well as what they can do to effectively compete
with their competitors (Zahra 2012, 18-27). SWOT analysis is an important tool to all
organizations as it identify its current position in comparison to its competitors as well as
provides a strategic analysis for the organization. Businesses regardless of the sector reach a
time they start having some weaknesses. These weaknesses within an organization can easily
be turned into opportunities when they are identified early. (Bonita 2006, 78)

On the same note, failing to notice or assuming these weaknesses can lead to the loss of
important business opportunities. It is for this reason that there is a need to always asses
businesses to monitor their performance from the point of view of their strengths, weakness,
opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis is not only helpfulness to profit seeking firms as it is
used in decision making whenever a desired objective has been identified. This tool can also be
used in any pre-crisis planning, crisis prevention and management, organization‟s planning,
development of human resources as well as in marketing.(Bonita 2006, 78)

5.3 SWOT Analysis of Tourism Development in Bangladesh

Based on the secondary data available on books, websites, journals and articles about
Bangladesh, SWOT analysis of tourism development in the country has been identified as
follows, presented in the following paragraphs.

Strength by definition refers to all the skills and resources that make a business have a
competitive advantage over its competitors. Bangladesh has a lot of strengths in tourism
development and some of them are listed as below; the country is unique for its beautiful
natural resources; the country has the largest sea beach in the world and it is famous for its
historical and archaeological sites. The country is also renowned for its great hospitality and
richness in religious harmony and cultural heritage. Bangladesh is easily accessible for all
potential visitors as it can be reached through air from various parts of the world. Bangladesh
Airlines named as Biman connect the country with 30 cities of the world. And also other
international carriers have fight connected to all over the world. (BPC 2015)
 32

A weakness refers to the deficiencies or limitations in capabilities and skills that obstructs an
organization‟s performance. Like in any other tourism industry, Bangladesh‟s tourism
development has some weaknesses some of which are listed below; there is lack of enough
investments put in tourism development and most of the tourism sites well managed, neither
have they been fully exploited. There are also low quality tourism services; there are no proper
infrastructural developments, in some cases there is a lack of security, safety and proper
hygiene. Other major challenges are experienced on visa procedures; lack of public relation
activities as well as lack of private initiatives in the tourism development. (BPC 2015)

Tourism has a lot of opportunities in Bangladesh. Some of these opportunities in tourism

development include: opportunities in development of culture tourism, more research and
development to attract more tourists and opportunity to come up with more favorable tourism
policies. Globalization has presented the country with a scope for information, technology, and
media which provides the tourism sector great opportunity to market its products and services
to the entire world. The country can also organize and host international events such as Football
and Cricket World Cup and international cricket matches. (BPC 2015)

The tourism sector of Bangladesh has some threats. The threats are listed as followed: The
country‟s political instability posse threats to the country‟s tourism sector; constant police
harassment by the police at the airports and language barrier that exist between the locals and
the international tourists. The country‟s industry experiences stiff competition from the
countries and regions that surrounds it. The lack of awareness of the benefits of the tourism
both among the locals and internationally has made people not realize the potential benefits
tourism activities could help in the country‟s development. (Chowdhury 2011, 81)

The forestry sector is faced with illegal poaching and hunting which has seen the country lose
much of its vital wildlife. The lack of well-trained life guards in the beaches put most of the
tourist at risk in case of any emergency on the beach. The country‟s tourism sector experiences
in some places shortages of good accommodation facilities, beverage and food services and
other entertainment services. Above all most foreigners perceive Bangladesh as a poor country
full of baggers, and frequently at political unrest and characterized with much corruption.
These negative perceptions about the country threaten its tourism sector. (Chowdhur 2011, 81)
 33

5.4 Outcomes of the SWOT Analysis

From the identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats a lot can be done to make
Bangladesh‟s tourism industry successful and known all over the world. The country suffers
from a bad image which affects its tourism sector. The country‟s diplomats and ambassadors
can play an important role in promoting positive image for the country in different parts of the
world. Various advertising techniques such as leaflets, magazines, brochure, and billboards can
be used to display the country's tourist attractions abroad. The locals need to be made aware
about the country‟s culture, history and heritage. The country‟s many several beaches, wetlands
and rivers can be exploited and made in such a way that several activities that attract tourists
can be carried out. Some developments can also be med in adventure tourism such as hiking,
mountain climbing and trekking among others.

5.5 Main findings

The aim of the research was to find out possible developments for the most popular tourist
destination of Bangladesh. In this research there are many findings that came out which will
outline the developments of the target destination Cox‟s Bazar. The findings are described in
the following paragraphs.

From the response gotten, it is clear that as a destination Cox‟s Bazar has very significant
potentialities. The beauty of Cox‟s Bazar is the main attraction to the tourists. With a suitable
location and blue waters, the tropical climate and the hospitality by the local residents and the
professionals it can take the top most place on the list of tourist‟s choice from all over the
world. As Bangladesh has warm weather this could be a nice place to spend winter vacation.
Long sea beach, sufficient and comparatively cheap accommodation, Hills beside the sea beach
and fresh sea foods are the main potentialities of Cox‟s Bazar. If we consider the development
process then we need some certain things. Even though Bangladesh has a lot to offer to tourists
but still the country failed to draw mass attention internationally. Political stability, safety and
 34

security, management for the internal communication and also in the tourist area, and most
importantly different services for tourists are the fields need to develop.

Cox‟s Bazar is not yet that much popular among international tourists. So if Bangladesh wants
to have more tourists especially international tourists, different kind of activities and quality but
cheap accommodation are needed very much. Also creating a positive image by the nationals
and residents is an important step. The government and conscious nationals can promote the
destination as a synonym of tourism. By a safer and touristic environment the authority has to
create a homelike feeling when they come to spend their holidays in coastal area.

There are also some developmental impediments to overcome. The main impediments are
awareness, inability of government to make long term plan, over commercialization. Awareness
in public and governmental level required to remove the obstacles towards development. Long
term plan and well decorated tourist facilities, changes in systems to avoid extra hassle, direct
international communication will result the rapid development of the destination.

Marketing has big impact on development process. Marketing plays very vital role in any
development process to make it successful. Marketing is an integral part of development
process. No development can occur without marketing even if there is a high potential for that
place or product. To reach to the international tourist and give them clear idea about the
destination what kind of facilities it has and what kind of activities is waiting for tourists, what
sort of extra services they would get if they come here rather than any other places, proper and
strategic marking is the necessary for that. Preconceived ideas about the country and
misleading information among tourist creates negative impacts what resist them to visit the
destinations, so long term strategic marketing plan would help to increase the interest of
general tourist. Still a large amount of people do not have any idea about Cox‟s Bazar. For them
this place does not bear any special significance as destination. Without marketing development
process cannot be fulfilled as it will not create any public attention. So marketing is one of the
big and important condition for development.
 35

5.6 Recommendations for the future

From the outcome of the research this chapter will frame some recommendations for future. As
Bangladesh has a lot to offer to the tourist and it has enough resources, so it is most important
to develop what it has already. The existing infrastructure and facilities need a lot of positive
changes.

The environment need to keep clean and neat for the tourist to keep their attention. There are a
lot to improve in accommodation and also in the food sector. Hygienic and quality restaurants
with different dishes from all over the world is need to make sure the incoming tourists have
option for their own food to make them feel like home as well they get opportunity to taste
different cuisines from different countries and cultures. Activities should be increased and
improved to make sure tourists have enough option to take part. It is also important to make
sure their engagement with these activities by making them interesting and more colorful.
Cultural event can create a great attraction as well as it will give a clear and positive image
towards the country‟s culture. Entertainment zones with different facilities could be established
for international visitors such as casinos, clubs, and modern cinema theatres.

Definitely the main attraction of this destination what is indefinable beauty should be also taken
care of. Awareness should be raised among local residents and domestic tourists, so they
understand the importance of the natural beauty do not harm the natural attraction in any way.
The natural treasure is a big asset and the level of utilization should be maximum. Campaign
and well planned marketing are preconditions to get more tourists. So it is also important to
survey the existing tourism market and make plan with the outcomes of it to market the place
worldwide. Marketing is an integral part of the development process.

Political stability and understanding between political parties can be a key factor to develop
global attention. The unstable political condition and countrywide strike called by political
parties is disgracing the brand value of the country day by day. So political parties and also
 36

government should agree that they both want development and better tourist destinations in the
interest of achieving goals. And it will also bring necessary investments for developments.
Information and services should be improved in order to maintain safety and security during the
trip.
 37

6 CONCLUSIONS

Bangladesh has its unique culture, history and tradition. It is a developing country with
potential tourism market. Now it is time to develop the tourism sector to compete
internationally and to get to the top position of tourism countries in South Asia. So new ideas
and good marketing plan are very much needed now for possible development. Development is
a broad word; it has the certain process to follow and a lot of conditions to fulfill. The research
coastal tourism development, case study Cox‟s Bazar in Bangladesh has been very informative
and completed with great results. It has been a great experience to work on this topic. The
motivation for the research work was to contribute in development process of a big treasure of
Bangladesh. During the research a lot of new possibilities and information have came out what
was the biggest achievement of this thesis work. The research did not only find out the
developments also find out positive and negative sides of existing local market. The
development process and ideas have been formed by the thesis coastal tourism development.

The main objective was to find out possible development for tourism in the coastal area,
especially in Cox‟s Bazar. In this research many aspects are bought up. From setting objective
to achieving goal problems and impediments has been identified and the solution is also bought
up. The development work has been also identified to improve the destination. From this point
of view the thesis achieved its primary goal.

Secondary objective of the thesis was to find out the relation between marketing and
developments, how marketing can help a destination to grow bigger. The question has been
also solved by research. So the secondary goal is also achieved.

To sum up, the development for coastal areas like Cox‟s Bazar need a lot of attention from
local residents, tourists and the higher authority. It is not possible to develop this place by only
 38

one party. So awareness and participation from every side is very much needed and a big
condition before the development process starts.
 39

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 APPENDIX 1/1

Topic: COASTAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY OF COX‟S BAZAR,

BANGLADESH
Author: SihaburRahman
Supervisor: Sara Åhaman
Interview Type: Semi Structured interview

 What are the potentialities of the cox bazar in tourism sector?

 What kind of development work we need to do for making cox bazar a popular tourism
destination?

 How can we get more tourists for the Cox Bazar?

 What are the developmental impediments to Cox bazar?

 Is marketing a part of the development process? If yes, then how much importance does
the marketing holds?

 Do you have any more suggestions?