Tourism and the Economy

While the author here does make some valid points in his article found in this month’s Executive Times pointedly titled, “Tourism: The Next Driving Sector of Bangladesh Economy“, questions remain unaddressed. Is Bangladesh ready by and large to receive international tourists? Are our tourist attractions ready? Most assuredly, I don’t think so. Many areas lack accommodations. Even the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation website needs a great deal of work. Hotels for many areas are not listed. The ones that are give no indication of the amenities available there. I mean there is a big difference in the quality of service from Hotel Sheraton Dhaka and say, Hotel Fortune Garden in Sylhet (which isn’t even mentioned on their site, but is a great place to stay in Sylhet). Then you click on their link for non BPC Hotels Bangladesh Online Hotel Directory and in most areas it is blank. So, where is the incentive?

Secondly, to build this tourism economy he speaks of, Bangladesh needs a new image. I know I’ve said it before, but here it comes again. The world over, Bangladesh is seen as a country of poverty, flood, famine, and micro credit. This the image that comes to most people when you mention Bangladesh. So the tourism industry needs a new image for Bangladesh. Many Asian countries are doing this, “India, Incredible India”, “Malaysia, Truly Asia” and their are many more. Bangladesh could easily become, “Bangladesh: the Heart of Asia!”

So, while it could be that the author, Mr. Shahid Hamid has the right idea, we have work to do, yet. Congratulations, on a great article, Mr. Hamid.

Technorati Tags: Bangladesh,Tourism,Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation

The last decade has seen Bangladesh go through some major revolutions in all aspects: economic, social, cultural are just some of the first few areas. Be it the modernization of our education system, the trend in the job market composition, the infrastructural development or whatnot — we, Bangladeshis, adapted to these changes with superb aplomb. And the end result has been most productive. The bad news is that we have a tendency of waiting for the next person to take the first step or for disaster to strike us before struggling through the repercussions. Even worse so, we tend to fall into a stagnant pattern when someone hands us a boon with a sigh of relief that we did not have to seek a better alternative. In other words, we are a society of languid people who make the pretence of being preoccupied with “more important” things.

This has to change. Forums, agencies, associations, the numerous talks and meetings and round tables, the large organizations and the ministry all profess their devotions to the change for a better future, but where is the proof of their work? With the turn of the new millennium, the nation saw the creation of the National Tourism Council (NTC) headed by the Prime Minister and advised by the Committee of Tourism under the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, in cooperation with Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC). So many impressive organizational bodies after one goal. The group held its first meeting in May 2000 to plan the development process of implementing sustainable tourism in the country. What was the result of all this? In 1998, Cambodia received 96,000 tourists; that year Bangladesh received 150,000 tourists. In 2006, Cambodia received about 2,000,000 tourists and Bangladesh, 200,000. Cambodia earned a whopping US $1 billion that year in comparison to Bangladesh earning a mere US $89 million. It goes to show that we failed miserably to learn from our surrounding nations.

The problem is that no one is producing goal oriented implementations. Our nation has all the attractions to be a formidable competitor to other Asian countries who earn a high percentage of export revenue from tourism. We are no less “incredible” than India and no less “truly Asia” than Malaysia. Yet, whereas the tourism receipt as a percentage of export earning for India in 2005 was 7.1% and Malaysia 19.8%, for Bangladesh it was only 2.1%. The secret behind India and Malaysia’s much higher revenue is their active campaign in the past few years promoting their national wonders abroad. The fact that Bangladesh has been left behind in this aspect is that our nation’s lack of tourism campaign is no secret. But from the hill tracts of Rangamati to the long sandy beaches of Cox’s Bazaar, from the Royal Bengal Tiger of our piece of the Rain Forest Sundarban to the Terracotta Temples of Bogra, we have a nation that is rich in all its natural glory and social culture alike.

At the moment, our main focus towards foreign earning is the textile, RMG, and leather sector, whereby we are mostly dependent on FDI capital to support these industries. Yes, granted that these industries generate high employment and contribute 72% to our GNP, but is it not time for us to move out of the shell of being a developing country and become self sufficient for the well being of our nation as a whole and as individuals? And while the manufacturing industry has done a lot to benefit our economy in the last decade, if there is one sector that can generate economic growth from all facets, it is TOURISM.

There are 10 million Non-Residential Bangladeshis throughout the world, and yet their remittance can easily be arranged right here on our home ground. The Tourism & Hospitality industry involves many branches of operations under its umbrella, from the lodging and traveling of visitors to the manufacturing of local handicraft products and providing of communication facilities. It gives birth to making room for many foreign organizations that would not have previously bothered opening up shop in our country, such as the sudden surge of the airlines agencies in Bangladesh like Etihad and Best Air Aviation. In recent years, huge orders for aircraft have been placed internationally and now we may partake in the scoop as well.

Because tourism is such a vastly diverse industry linked to many other industries, it generates increase in the GDP without even batting an eye. It brings in foreign currency through the export of services in the forms of hospitality and travel, and through the selling of commodities when foreign visitors purchase local products to take back home as souvenirs. It generates employment for the local populace as it instigates the mushrooming of many new trades and their respective organizations. It puts the country in the international limelight when visitors take back the good word of mouth with them to their home nations. All this without sending out our labor force abroad to spend our national income there. And it is perfect for Bangladesh because ours is also a country of amiable folks and because labor force is a resource we have in abundance.

Now that we have discussed thoroughly the benefits tourism can reap for us, we should back our qualitative statements with some relevant statistics, though accurate statistics is rare in our culture. If we take the recent rise of hotels in the country into account, we have a potential hospitality turnover that can be estimated to be more than some US $450 million. Simply the outbound ticketing revenue in 2006 for Bangladesh was over US $356 million, and in an average scenario that makes only 25% of the travel industry revenue. If we take into Lodging and Conveyance, Food Consumption, Shopping, and Miscellaneous into revenue account, we have a potential industry of tourism and hospitality that is worth over US $1.5 billion. Last year, Bangladesh incurred its highest ever outbound travelers at 289,000 heads counted, and United Nations World Trade Organization estimated there to be over 8 billion travelers to be incurred in 2008. The potential GDP that this estimation can serve us if we are able to slice into this pie boggles the mind. With such potentials awaiting us, it is a crime simply to remain a poor nation.

The expectation from the neutral government when it showed an initial assertiveness to stamp out corruption and hurl the nation into an upsurge of economic activity was that perhaps this would be the time when growth of the nation would be instigated with renewed vigor. That hope was dashed when the neutral government became obsessed with bringing justice to political lawbreakers and let the economy tilt to woe. Yet, it would not have been hard to stimulate the economy out of deficit with some minor tinkering on behalf of our tourism sector. We do not need a big wish list to bring about changes and bring in foreign guests. Basic infrastructure to provide physical communication to all parts of the nation, hygienic rest stops and guest houses, transport and civil security should be there simply to support the growing trend of local travelers. And one other thing that might be needed is vocational institutes to provide educated unemployed youths with the technical knowledge to provide them occupancy and keep them out of hardship and more negative alternatives, such as done to organize hospitality support in the Middle East, Europe and Australia or simply in our neighboring India and Malaysia.

The fact of the matter is that Tourism can open up many doors for our nation. It is not about generating more employment or for bringing home more foreign currencies or for higher GDP; it is for the economy as a whole that we need to shift the lion share of our concentration to Tourism. It is simply because this is one avenue that allows us to make a pot load of money and feed a truck load of mouths on international income without reaching out for aid or even leaving our national premises.
Shahid Hamid is the Managing Director and CEO of a newly established company, Hospitality Management Consultants (HMC). He is also the General Manager of Dhaka Regency Hotel & Resort.