Enthusiasm over tourism fair in Chittagong
Chittagong will be built into a tourism city and a commercial hub, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon said yesterday.
The tourism industry has not yet been explored properly, the minister said while opening an international fair—Chittagong Travel Mart 2014—in the port city.
The Bangladesh Monitor, a fortnightly travel publication, orgainsed the three-day event at the Peninsula hotel.
Local people need to be tourism-friendly to help boost the industry—a sector that does not get enough budget, he said.
“As part of our effort to develop the sector, we have proposed to declare 2016 as the tourism year. A declaration may come officially very soon.”
The tourism industry can provide a huge number of people with jobs, said Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain.
Security problem is the main hindrance for the sector to boom, he said “Foreign tourists should feel secure while visiting Bangladesh; otherwise they would not come to the country.”
In its effort to turn Chittagong into a tourism hub, the government has taken a Tk 1,700-crore project to build a road along the Patenga embankment. “Ocean-facing apartments for low- and middle-income people will be made in Patenga.”
Nineteen foreign and local firms, including tour operators, airlines, hotels, amusement parks and resorts, are taking part in the fair, which will remain open from 10.30am to 8pm, said Kazi Wahidul Alam, editor of The Bangladesh Monitor and chairman of the show.
Mahbubul Alam, president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also spoke.
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