The emerging tourism sector of Bangladesh is expected to get a boost after completion of Tourism Master Plan by this year as stakeholders concerned will get a new guideline to work in the sector.
According to the sources at relevant government agencies, a total of 5,29,286 international tourists visited Bangladesh in 2022 as against 135,186 tourists in 2021 clocking 391.51 per cent rise over the previous Calander year.
South Asian countries dominate the total tourists with two-thirds being Indian tourists.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, the tourism sector of Bangladesh earned 404 million during the January-December period of 2022 showing an upward trend.
The earnings during the months of November and December of 2022 and January 2023 showed upward trend. The earning recorded at 41.96 million US dollars in November 2022, 41.96 million US dollar in December 2022 and 41.80 million US dollars in January 2023.The earnings posted 352.719 million US dollars in 2021-22 fiscal year, 204.86 million US dollars in 2020-21, 312.89 million US dollars in 2019-20 fiscal year, 628.28 million US dollars and 647.68 million US dollars in 2010—2015 fiscal year, according to Bangladesh Bank.
Meanwhile, Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Md Mokammel Hossian said that the tourism sector of Bangladesh will also get a boost after completion of Tourism Master Plan by this year as stakeholders concerned will get a new guideline to work in the sector.
Hossian expressed this view at a reception at the Hotel InterContinental in the city recently .
Md Ali Kader, Chairman of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, said the corporation has proposed to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to reduce tax on liquor to help boost the tourism sector . Citing different reasons, he said that NBR is going slow on the tax cut proposals on liquor.
He expressed the view that sales of liquor will go up provided tax on the product is rationalized.
Shiblul Azam Koreashi, President of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB), while talking to this correspondent said that the tourism sector of Bangladesh will do well in 2023 as the global economy is getting on the track despite some challenges.
He said the corona pandemic has hit the Bangladesh economy as well as the tourism sector.
The Padma bridge is projected to raise the country's GDP by 1.23 percent, and the southwestern region's GDP by 2.5 percent
Meanwhile, Norizan Binti Yaacob, General Manager, Holiday INN Dhaka, has expressed this view while talking to this correspondents at the hotel in the capital recently.
The corona pandemic caused heavy losses to the global economy including the travel and tourism sector in 2020–2022. The recovery in the hospitality got a hiccup when the Russia-Ukraine broke out on February 24, 2022
The business in hotel and hospitality sector is expected to cross the level of 50 per cent of the pre-pandemic period in in 2023 and may reach 100 per cent in 2024, said Norizan Binti Yaacob
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s economy will be 28th largest in 2030 and 25th largest in 2035 , the UK’s Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has made the projection in a recent report.
Austria now enjoys the same ranking, the centre said. It has said Bangladesh’s economic ranking in 2021 will be identical— 41st out of 193 countries— to that of 2020.
Bangladesh ranked 59th in 2010 and 48th in 2015. The CEBR in its report also said by 2025, the ranking of Bangladesh will improve significantly to 34th, the position currently held by African country Egypt.
