Tourism gets a boost

The tourism sector is likely to receive a major boost as the government seeks to more than double the civil aviation and tourism ministry's allocation for the coming fiscal year.

The budget placed in the parliament yesterday will see the ministry get Tk 372 crore for the fiscal 2015-16 compared to just Tk 160 crore in FY15. 

The boost comes as the government has already declared 2016 as 'Tourism Year' in a move to revitalise the tourism sector. The government wants to increase the annual average of foreign tourists to 10 lakh by 2018.

Currently, an average five lakh foreign tourists visit Bangladesh. However, the sector suffered a serious setback during the last peak season, which is usually between October and April every year, due to political unrest, when just about 2.5 lakh foreign tourists came, industry sources said.

“Although inadequate, we still want planned spending of the fund on tourism infrastructure, connectivity and branding Bangladesh,” Vice-President of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) Rafiuzzaman said in his reaction.

The association had sought budgetary allocations of Tk 500 crore for tourism alone, as the sector lost around the same amount to political unrest which also cut down the number of local tourists, he said.

“We want the government to give true top priority to developing tourism rather than limiting activities to just processions and symposiums,” Rafiuzzaman told The Daily Star. 

During yesterday's budget speech, the Finance Minister AMA Muhith also spoke of increasing the tourism sector's intake to $200 million by 2018, specifically by improving services at different places of tourist interest.

An integrated plan has been formulated to develop tourism in Cox's Bazar, Teknaf, Saint Martin's Island and Moheshkhali, Muhith said.

The government has already opened Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park at Gazipur and Sheikh Russel Aviary and Eco Park in Chittagong, he said while speaking on eco-tourism.

A site had also been chosen for an eco-park in Sylhet which will soon be opened, and the Sundarban Tourism Policy had already been approved, he added.