The government is planning integration of tourism studies into the secondary school curricula in line with tourism education already introduced in colleges and universities across the country.
Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Muhammad Faruk Khan said this at a meeting with the executive committee members of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh at his secretariat office on Sunday.
The minister said that education-related to tourism has already been included in universities and colleges of the country to create skilled manpower in the tourism sector.
“Now we will try to introduce such education at the secondary level. We will discuss the matter with the Ministry of Education and take measures in this regard,” Faruk Khan said.
The minister said that the private sector must come forward to accelerate the growth of the country’s tourism industry.
“We are ready to provide maximum policy support to the private sector. Private tour operators have a long-standing demand not to deduct 10 percent advance tax on the total bill of foreign currency collected through banking channels and import of vehicles at duty free facility for them is under consideration. We will talk to the National Board of Revenue ( NBR) in this regard.”
Farooq Khan said that the Ministry of Tourism is working with the Ministry of Home Affairs to increase the scope of on-arrival visa as well as e-visa to foreign tourists in a larger way.
Foreign social media influencers are also invited throughout the year as part of the tourism promotion campaign.
We are also working on Bangladesh embassies located in different countries to present the country’s tourist destinations more strongly to the foreigners.
Secretary of Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry Mokammel Hossain, Chairman of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation AKM Aftab Hossain Pramanik, Chief Executive Officer of Bangladesh Tourism Board Abu Taher Muhammad Jaber, President of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh Shiblul Azam Koraishi and members of TOAB Executive Committee were present in the meeting.