As a tourist destination, Bangladesh has an incredible amount of untapped potential, that much has always been known. Our country’s natural beauty coupled with the infrastructural development we have undergone in the past few years means that the only reason more tourists aren’t flocking into Bangladesh is because we are doing an incredibly poor job in marketing ourselves as the prime tourist destination we are.
Case in point, it has been more than two years since the government decided to invest in facilitating eco-friendly tourism in the Sundarbans. The decision had proven immensely popular, with the Sundarbans witnessing a sharp rise in the number of tourists especially after the inauguration of the Padma Bridge — this just goes to show just how powerful well-timed marketing can be.
More recently, a border road along the three hilly districts of Rangamati, Khagrachhari, and Bandarban is expected to bring an influx of local tourists to the region. It is an incredibly well known fact that tourism has the power to completely transform any given locality as it has a knock-on effect on local education, health, security, and the spread of information technology. However, given the contentious history of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, it would behoove the government to ensure that any and all tourism is carried out with respect for the locals and their culture.
Bangladesh’s tourism endeavours have always been hampered by a lack of concrete planning, relegating the entire sector as an afterthought. But that is an incredibly shortsighted attitude which the administration needs to shed, as tourism, especially eco-tourism, can be used as an important module for Bangladesh to reach its medium-to-long term economic goals.
