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Bangladesh, a new but minor source of foreign exchange earning. Tourism in the
early 1980s amounted to some 49,000 visitors per year, but by 1986 more than
129,000 tourists--mostly from India, the United States, Britain, and Japan--visited
Bangladesh. According to the Bangladesh Parjaton Corporation (Bangladesh
Tourism Corporation), some Tk44.6 million in foreign exchange was earned in
1986 from the tourism industry.
The Bangladesh government and the Bangladesh Aid Group have taken
seriously the idea that Bangladesh is the test case for development. In the late
1980s, it was possible to say, in the somewhat patronizing tone sometimes
adopted by representatives of donor The picture of day-to-day and even year-to-
year performance of the economy of Bangladesh is a mixture of accomplishment
and failure, not significantly different from that of the majority of poor Third World
countries. The government and people of Bangladesh are entitled to take some
pride in the degree of success they have achieved since independence,
especially when one contrasts their success with the gloomy forecasts of
economists and international experts. The international donor community, led by
the World Bank, similarly can be proud of the role it has played in assisting this
"largest poorest" nation to become a respected member of the family of nations.
* * *
Works that are useful for gaining a basic understanding of the Bangladesh
economy include Bangladesh: Emergence of a Nation by A.M.A. Muhith and The
Political Economy of Development by Just Faaland and J.R. Parkinson. Rehman
Sobhan's The Crisis of External Dependence provides an insightful critique of the
foreign aid sector. Kirsten Westergaard's State and Rural Society in Bangladesh
provides information on agricultural development in the context of the relationship
between the state and rural society. Articles by Abu Muhammad Shajaat Ali and
Akhter Hameed Khan provide agricultural case studies on the village of
Shyampur and the Comilla Model, respectively. The Far Eastern Economic
Review and Economist both carry timely reports on the state of the economy.
Among the most important sources of information on the economy, however, is
the documentation provided by various agencies of the governments of
Bangladesh and the United States and the World Bank. Important among these
is the annual Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh published by the Ministry of
Planning. The Bibliography of Asian Studies each year carries numerous reports
on the macroeconomy of Bangladesh and should be consulted for details. (For
further information and complete citations, see Bibliography.)
People are prone to fun and enjoyment. Being curious, they always want to get
the flavour of unseen and unknown for pleasure. Their inherent attraction for
the enjoyment of natural beauty and diverse civilization motivate them to
discoveries and inventions through extensive travelling. They also intend to
gather new experience from new things and new places, get lasting pleasure,
and know different unknown cultures through visiting destinations. Besides,
tourism is a leisure activity to relief oneself from the stress of daily routine-life.
People get depressed of their monotonous workloads and want to escape from
the pressures of work-deadlines, avoid crowd city life, break traditional daily
life, and thus enjoy some time in a new place having natural and cultural
significance. A new place can relieve the monotony of one's existence and -fijl
one mind with joy (Haq 2001). For this a large number of people is now
moving from one place to another, from one country to other countries, from
one end of the world to another, and may be in future, from one planet to other
ones (Hossain, 1999). Thus tourism and the resultant movement of people are
booming globally.
Today, the tourism industry is recognized as the single largest industry in the
world. As such tourism has become the largest trade sector in the world and
this sector has been recognized as a major thrust area of economic and business
activities in most of the destination countries. It has shown a tremendous
growth during the past four decades. For most of the destination countries,
tourism has become an emerging sector. They are now earning larger portion of
their national income from tourism. For this, many destination countries have
developed necessary tourism-infrastructure and arranged necessary facilities to
fed the tourists and thus reap the potential benefit from tourism activities. Their
utmost efforts are yet on to attract increased number of tourists.
The impact of modern technology and the resultant introduction of speedy and
comparatively cheap air transport have made it possible for the tourism
industry to
1.2. The Research Problem
By today, tourism has become the largest industry and trade sector in the world
generating enough employment opportunities and earning huge amount of
foreign exchange for the destination countries. It has created multifaceted
impact on people's pleasure, knowledge, overall standard of living, and culture
of both the destination and tourist generating countries. Many of the destination
countries have marched forward to reap the full potentials of this industry. But
Bangladesh is lagging far behind in the growth and development of its tourism
industry. Through the country has got many rare attractions substantially
different from those of other destination countries, its tourism industry is yet at
the primitive stage and has not taken the shape of an industry.
The government of Bangladesh, however, has already taken some measures for
the development of this industry. But many of those are of very primary nature
and have created little impact on the growth and development of this industry.
Therefore, it is necessary to uncover the reasons of the backwardness of this
industry and identify the loopholes of the present policy measures and thus
suggest effective courses of actions to be undertaken by the government and
other concerned agencies.
Research Methods
This chapter describes the research methods followed in this study. The
research methods to follow depend on the problems identified, objectives set
and propositions/ hypothesis drawn for the study. However, the details of
research methods followed in solving the research problem, achieving the
objectives, and assessing the research propositions have been described below.
With these ends in view, this chapter has covered the contents such as nature of
the study, scope of the study, theoretical propositions, population, sample size,
sample selection procedure, and questionnaire preparation. This chapter has
also presented sections on pilot survey for questionnaire pre-test, field survey
and investigation for primary data collection, sources of secondary data,
verification of filled in questionnaires, tabulation, data analysis and
interpretation techniques, organizational framework of the report, and
limitations of the study.
C. Study Period:
The field survey has been conducted and the field level data have been
collected during the months from November to February, which are the peak
tourism seasons in Bangladesh. Data collected for this study have been
tabulated during the month of March 2005. The preparation of the report,
editing, and finalizing touch have been done during the period from August' 05
March' 06. Finally, the report has been typed during the month of April 2006.
D. Samples Included:
The research problem along with its objectives and propositions indicate that
data should be collected from those firms and parties who are directly or
indirectly involved in the business activities of Bangladesh tourism industry,
development process of tourism infrastructure or facilities in the country, and
interaction process of rendering or receiving tourism services. As such, the
scope of different categories of samples taken for this study is limited to the
following:
i. Tourism Firms:
Six types of tourism firms have been examined in this study. These include
BPC, Private Tour operators, Airlines, Travel Agencies, Hotels, and
Restaurants. These firms are the major role players in the development and
business activities of the tourism industry! Hotels and restaurants have been
studied as they play important roles to serve tourist guests and in adopting tour
operators' services, and thus accelerating the development of tourism activities
in Bangladesh.
ii. Tourists: The study has included the domestic tourists. It has also chosen
the foreign tourists visiting Bangladesh and foreign residents who have visited
different destinations of the country. It has basically confined itself to the study
of tourists' perceptions on different service arrangements of the tourism
industry;..irt Bangladesh.
iii. Experts: Academicians, professional guides, travel and tourism writers,
retired executives of different tourism firms have also been considered and
included in the sample. They have been interviewed for opinion and judgment
based information.
A. Bangladesh tourism industry has not been able to provide necessary tourism
infrastructure and facilities for tourists.
B. Adequate number of tourism is not available in the country and the existing
firms are not yet fully equipped with necessary manpower, technology and
facilities.
C. The overall performance of the tourism industry in Bangladesh is poor.
D. The measures undertaken by the government are modest in nature and much
need to be done for the development of the industry. E. Bangladesh can expect
to become an important visiting destination by adopting effective and practical
strategies in the context of the findings of this study.
2.4. Population
Eight categories of population have been set based on the objectives and scope
of the study. These are (i) executives of the BPC, (ii) owners of private tour
operators (TOAB members), (Hi) tourists visiting the country, (iv) executives
of the airlines, (v) owners of travel agencies, (vi) hotel receptionists, (vii)
restaurants managers, and (viii) experts! J The first category consists of
currently employed executives of the BPC. An up to date TOAB (Tour
Operators Association of Bangladesh) members' list consisting of names and
addresses of 32 firms has been used as the base of population for the second
category. Foreign tourists visiting Bangladesh during the months from
November to February constitute the population for the tourist group. The size
and composition of population for the tourist category is not precisely known
and their proper categorization could not be made. The above mentioned three
categories of population have been considered for questionnaire survey. The
last five categories of population have been used for informal conversations.
Since no up to date list of travel agencies, hotels, and restaurants operating in
Bangladesh has been found, the sizes of population for these three sectors
remain unknown. The expert category of population includes academicians,
travel writers, professional guides, and ex-executives of tourism firms.
It should be mentioned that out of 125 respondent foreign tourists, 12 are from
India, 10 are from each of the USA, the UK, Japan and South Korea, 9 are from
China, 6 are from each of Netherlands, Pakistan and Malaysia, and the rest 46
are from other source countries. Out of the 250 respondent-tourists, about 73%
are male and 27% are female. Their ages range from 20 to 70 years. As found
in the study, the larger segments of the respondent tourist fall in the age
intervals 20-29, 30-39, 40-49,........, and 50-59.
For the tour operators' category of sample, attempt has been made to draw ten
firms from the TOAB members' list through an unbiased lottery. For selecting
the sample respondents from thirty two tour operators, each has been given a
number like 1, 2, 3,.....,31, and 32,, serially. These numbers have been written
on 32 separate small pieces of white papers of the same size. Ten pieces of such
papers have then been drawn through an unbiased lottery. The sample thus
drawn has included seven tour operators from Dhaka, two from Chittagong,
and the rest one from Sylhet.
Questionnaire Preparation
Three different sets of questionnaires have been prepared to conduct the field
survey. All these questionnaires have sought information concerning the
following issues:
For the very nature of the information and also of the study, some "what, why
and/or how-type" questions have been developed and posed in many cases to
collect attitudinal, behavioural, value-judgement and opinion related
information. As such, insight understanding of the researcher has to be used
very carefully to explore the extent of information required for the concerned
issue(s) of each question.
Expert opinions have been taken to improve all three sets of questionnaires
designed initially. Their opinions have also been utilized to identify the key
problems and solve those problems of the industry efficiently and effectively,
and to measure the potentials of the sector under study. No formal
questionnaire or interview schedule has been used to collect information from
the respondents of airlines, travel agencies, hotel receptionists and managers of
restaurants.
Thus, attempt has been made to collect sufficient primary and secondary data
from all the above mentioned sources to define the research problem, develop a
theoretical base, raise necessary arguments, justify logic, identify the
constraints to the development of the tourism industry in Bangladesh, draw
effective policy and managerial implications for it, and highlight potentials of
tourism development in Bangladesh.
It has been mentioned earlier that the study has attempted both subjective and
objective measurements. A combined approach of both quantitative and
qualitative techniques has been appropriate to analyze and interpret the findings
and draw conclusion in light of the research problem and objectives. Thus,
some descriptive statistical tools have been used according to the requirements
and suitability of the analyses of collected data. These mainly include
percentage, simple growth rate, mean, and standard deviation. Graphical
analyses of some time series data could be done for necessary interpretation but
have been avoided as these do not add anything meaningful. The analyses also
include judgements and thoughtful comments of the researchers.
The first and foremost among the limitations of this study could be the related
with the samples selected for the study. The researchers feel that it would be
better and representative if the size of samples, especially in the case of foreign
tourists, could be relatively larger. The present study has investigated only a
total number of 250 tourists mainly due to resource constraints. Only 250
respondent tourists out of the total inflow of about two lacs foreign tourists
every year and another five lacs domestic tourists may or may not represent the
total impressions of the tourists visiting different destinations in Bangladesh.
Besides, perceptions or opinions of some purposely-selected tourists have been
considered in this study. The findings based on these selected tourists only
may, therefore, limit to the generalization. However, the careful and cautious
considerations of secondary information and descriptive statements available in
literatures have given some insights to generalize the findings. Nevertheless,
since the study has considered a small number of tourists, the conclusion with
regard to the visiting behaviours, preferences of tourists, and satisfaction on
Bangladesh tourism arrangements could not be thought concrete. Besides, the
researcher could not include some tourism firms locating outside Dhaka city in
the samples and collect information from them, though tourism firms are also
(travel agencies, hotels and restaurants) operating throughout the country. Thus,
the study is also subject to location biases and market-biases with regard to
samples selected.
The second limitation is that some sample respondents have been found so
conservative to respond and provide some necessary information Respondent
tourists have not agreed with some issues incorporated in the questionnaire and
not answered those issues under the questions. As such, it has not been possible
to fully evaluate all the issues relevant to tourism development in Bangladesh
and thus measure the entire potentials of this industry. In the case of
suggestions relating to government policy measures, some of them avoided
answering those questions on silly grounds. Of course, the validity and the
reliability of information collected for this study may not pose any confusion
and the authenticity of the findings may not be subject to any question.
The fourth limitation is related with the assessment of contribution made by the
tourism sector in the economy of Bangladesh. The foreign currency income
alone does not reflect the real income of the country from tourism sector, No
concrete calculation procedure is there to assess the actual income from tourism
sector in Bangladesh. Besides, there are some hidden expenditure of tourists
and some income of different tourism firms that are not properly documented
and could not be taken into account. Moreover, the income of hotels,
restaurants, travel agencies, private airline, and private tour operators could not
be collected and shown due to their unwillingness to provide such data. Further,
all these incomes have multiplier effect on the overall economy of the country.
Thus the no documentation and no availability of data have led the researcher
to reflect or present a part of the total contribution of the tourism sector on the
economy in Bangladesh.
The fifth is with regard to the amount of fund available for conducting such an
industry-based detail study. The personal source has allocated the required
amount both for conducting the study and publication of the report. The fund
provided from personal source could not be enough for the required amount.
Still, the researchers should acknowledge that time constraint has been another
loop in completing such a vigorous research work. Therefore, on this ground of
time cons the findings of this study could be discounted at least to some extent.
Tourism is sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and
stay of non residents, in so far as they do not lead to permanent residence and
are not connected with any earning activity1.
For this purpose we have analysed first the factors that determine the demand
for tourism and then we have described what we have in our tourist product
.inventory that may attract the tourists to visit our country.
Tourism in Bangladesh:
A General Overview
2.1: In the course of history, this part of Indian subcontinent had always
attracted the foreigners; some times as invaders and sometimes as tourists.
Bengal had always been a good destination for the international tourists. But
with passage of time Bengal has lost its attraction as a major tourist destination
and at present we could be placed no where in the list of major tourist
importing countries of the world.
2.2.The National Tourist Organization of Bangladesh:
Before liberation of Bangladesh i. e. during the then Pakistan time, there was a
Department of Tourism at the centre (West Pakistan) which was responsible for
promotional and regulatory works for the development of tourism. But the task
of creation of tourist facilities was left with the private sector except for some
areas where private investment was inadequate or nil.
User Feedback
Comment posted by Majbritt Thomsen on Monday, January 12, 2009 4:24 PM
I am new on this web-site, but this article caught my eye and I want to read the
conclusions.
But where can I read the entire report? Is the article part of a book, web-site or what?
What is the title and who is the author?
People interesting in tourism in Bangladesh can also download my DANIDA report on
the subject at http://www.ambdhaka.um.dk/nr/exeres/0c2133d4-7f96-4d60-989a-
914c230a5218.htm
Majbritt Thomsen
Comment posted by noman on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 12:18 AM
Thank you, for reading articles from BD Experts. This site is open for all. That means
anyone can upload and publish his/her articles in BD Experts. As you reported, we also
found the article incomplete. Lucky you have another option. You can download the soft
copy of the article and ready it. Just click on the floppy disk picture captioned “Download
Soft Copy”.
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Comment posted by Prof. Dr. Md. Ashraful Islam Chowdhury on Thursday,
March 19, 2009 8:49 AM
I am the founder chairman of the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management,
Dhaka University willing to have a look at the article/research work. Pls make it available
for me.
14 Jan 2010 ... laws, bangladesh tourism, bangladesh places, bangladesh vacations. ...
faiths but some still claim social discrimination in national politics. ... An interesting
component to the religious politics of Bangladesh is ...
www.bnpbd.com/bangladesh-politics.html - Cached
discrimination”
A REGIONAL human rights watchdog, the Asian Centre for Human Rights in its report
“2009 India Human Rights Report,” released in New Delhi on Friday, accused Mizoram
of practising “systematic discrimination” against minorities. The ACHR stated that
minorities were denied employment, basic healthcare, education and right to
development. The state government has failed to “address systematic discrimination
against minorities – ethnic, linguistic and religious,” the report added.
The ACHR alleged that Chakma minorities who live outside the Chakma Autonomous
District Council have to face “more discrimination and neglect.” Majority Chakmas live
on the border with Bangladesh and the Central funds for the development of the border
areas under the Border Area Development Programme have been misused. The report
claimed the Ministry of Home Affairs released Rs 1,556 lakh during 2004-05, Rs 903.48
lakh during 2005-06, Rs 2262 lakh during 2006-07 and Rs 2086 lakh during 2007-08, to
Mizoram under BADP. But the ACHR team during its visit to the border areas “found
very limited evidence of development activities.”
The state government failed to provide Chakmas access to basic healthcare facilities.
Most villages had no health care facilities at all and the poor villagers lived at the mercy
of “ojhas” (traditional herbal doctors). Deaths of children were often not recorded.
We hope this can be improved. Even within Mara Autonomous District Council (MADC)
and Lai Autonmous District Council (LADC), it often becomes a problem.
When the overwhelming majority speaks Mizo (Duhlian), if minorities do not learn the
language, of course how will they be employed to serve the people whose language they
do not know!
i think on this point, we need a social science institute interventions from out of the state,
so that the reality comes out infront of people of the nation especially to those who does
not believes that chakmas are facing very unique problems which impacts might be very
disturbing in the future. and i hope soon this (research) thing will be done. so friends just
have patience. sometimes it is hard to digest when we consider it as an allegation but
infact whatever poritosh chakma presented about the problems is less than what should
be presented.
i hope when the research will be done, then we will know how much it is true or it is
more than what he said?
6 January 2010
To
Subject: Decision to develop tourism in CHT not in conformity with 1997 Peace Accord
Honourable Prime Minister,
We have learned, however, that the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) of the
Planning Ministry decided, on 23 December 2009, to develop tourism in the CHT region,
contrary to the CHT Accord since the Hill District Council (HDC) was not present and
had not been consulted. The PSC met, irregularly, under the CHT Development Board in
Rangamati with Committee Chairman Col (retd) Oli Ahmed in the chair. To facilitate
tourism, the PSC also resolved to build a road along the bank of the Kaptai Lake and to
set up various recreational facilities as part of this project. The road would be connected
with Bandarban, Khagrachari and Chittagong district.
There have also been reports in the media that the upazila administration in Bandarban is
illegally grabbing land belonging to Marma and Bawm communities in the name of
tourism development centres (“Allegations of tourism development on Adibashi land in
Bandarban” — Daily Prothom Alo, 24 December 2009; “Adibashis aggrieved at the
building of ‘Shorgochura’ tourism centre in Bandarban municipal area” — Daily
Purbokon, 3 January 2010). 40 acres of land have allegedly been marked off with red
flags by surveyors to build the tourist spots.
The CHTC is also not aware of any studies that have been carried out to assess the
environmental impact of the proposed growth of tourism industry in the CHT. We
respectfully suggest that expert consultants be invited to assess the sustainability and
potential impact of large-scale tourism on land and water resources. The potential for
tourism needs to be linked to other developments in the region in a single comprehensive
plan, in the formulation of which democratically elected HDCs should be fully involved.
Madam Prime Minister, the Government of Bangladesh, under your leadership, took a
key role at the Copenhagen Climate Change talks. As was discussed at those talks, the
world has seen untold environmental damage due to unplanned industrialization and
development. Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable to climate change and related
environmental damage. Preserving the extremely fragile and precious environment of the
Chittagong Hill Tracts is therefore a priority.
The Commission thus urges Honourable Prime Minister to take the necessary steps to
rescind the decision by the Planning Ministry to develop tourism centres in Chittagong
Hill Tracts without —
c) taking steps to make sure any new developments are not harmful to the environment
d) preventing further illegal land grabbing from indigenous communities in the name of
development.
The CHT Commission strongly believes that implementation of the CHT Accord is a
must for strengthening democratic good governance, ensuring a people-oriented and
environmentally-friendly development and rule of law in CHT. The government should
immediately declare a roadmap to fully implement the CHT Accord within its present
tenure.
cc to:
1. Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Honorable Deputy Leader of the House & Chairperson of
the National Committee for Implementation of the CHT Peace Accord.
2. Dr. Dipu Moni, Honourable Minister, Foreign Ministry, Government of the People’s
Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka.
The government has started work on developing ‘special tourist zones’ for promotion of
the country’s tourism sector.
To this end, the authorities concerned identified 700 spots from which sites would be
selected to develop as tourism zones.
The objective of the programme, to be implemented by the civil aviation and tourism
ministry, is to generate employment and earn foreign currency by attracting the foreign
tourists.
The government is going to enact ‘Bangladesh Reserved Areas for Tourism and Special
Tourism Zones Act 2010.’
The draft of the law has already been approved by the cabinet. This law will prohibit
construction of unplanned and illegal structures in the places of tourist attraction.
Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Shafiq Alam Mehdi said the special tourist zones
would be developed in public-private joint ventures or at individual initiatives.
The formulation of the new tourism law in a short time proved the Prime Minister’s
keenness for development of tourism sector, he said.
Development of the sector would create employment opportunities for huge population
and earn foreign currencies, he added.
The tourism secretary said the necessary structures would be built and arrangements
made in the selected tourist spots for the local and foreign tourists.
The special tourist zones would be set up in a very planned way. The tourism project
would be implemented by 2013. Work is also on for adoption of a long-term plan to be
implemented by 2021.
Sources said local and foreign entrepreneurs are coming forward with investment
proposals because of the tourism-friendly plans of the present government.