International tourism fair kicks off tomorrow
A three-day international tourism fair—US- Bangla Airlines Dhaka Travel Mart 2017—will begin at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka tomorrow.
Rashed Khan Menon, civil aviation and tourism minister, is scheduled to open the show, the Bangladesh Monitor, a fortnightly publication on tourism, said in a statement yesterday.
The publication is organising the fair for the 14th time, said Kazi Wahidul Alam, editor of the Bangladesh Monitor and chairman of the US- Bangla Airlines DTM 2017 organising committee.
US- Bangla Airlines is supporting the event as the title sponsor and national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines is the airline partner, Alam said at a press meet at Sonargaon Hotel yesterday.
“With a view to unlock the country's tourism potential, we have launched this event 16 years back and since then we are holding this fair as a regular annual event,” he said.
“We believe that Dhaka Travel Mart has been playing a very supportive role in the development of the country's tourism sector,” Alam said.
“For a sustainable tourism sector, we need to attract more foreign tourists. A lot of things need to be done in this direction. First of all, we need to identify the appropriate tourism product and promote worldwide, especially in those countries from where we may expect tourists.”
“We need to plan effective ways of promotion as well. At the same time, communication and other infrastructure, skilled human resources need to be developed,” he said.
About 50 organisations from different countries and host Bangladesh are taking part in the show, according to the statement.
On the sidelines of the fair, a seminar on “Emergence of Halal tourism - how Bangladesh can benefit” will be organised on April 1. People with an entry fee of Tk 30 will be allowed to visit the fair from 10am to 8pm.
Imran Asif, CEO of US-Bangla Airlines; Md Nasir Uddin, CEO of Bangladesh Tourism Board; Aparup Chowdhury, chairman of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, and Md Abu Taher, deputy general manager for sales at Biman Bangladesh Airlines, also attended the event.