Gazi Anowar :
Experts have called for accelerated moves for introducing marine tourism saying it could earn US$ 1 billion yearly to a staggering 10 per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in one decade with Bangladesh’s now expanded maritime boundary.
“If we can properly start Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) process for the ocean governance, it may touch our goal for marine tourism like cruise and reef tourism, and contribute to our GDP as our expectation,” says Professor Dr Kawser Ahmed, Director of International Center for Ocean Governance (ICOG) of Dhaka University.
He said that marine tourism is a part of Blue Economy that requires a balanced approach between economic development and conservation of nature which will generate employment, secure productive marine economy and sustainable coastal and marine ecosystem.
The prospect of tourism along the Bay of Bengal is still in its infancy and is an untapped sector for Bangladesh’s economy, he added. “The progress of marine tourism has been slow but with the government’s intervention, private investors can be motivated properly and help the sector flourish and simultaneously boost the nation’s economy,” Dr Dilruba Chawdhury, Assistant Professor, Business Administration Department at the Uttara University told The New Nation.
The present scenario of marine tourism is in limited scale and haphazard that Cox’s Bazar unplanned hotels carry its testimony, she said.
Dr Dilruba also suggested that Bangladesh has a huge prospect to earn like Malaysia, India and Thailand as well. To tap its potentiality, it needs the sea bound developed roads, security and safety assurance for the tourists in the whole coast line and finally decision, monitoring and evaluation must be ensured by the concerned authority for this.
The US based NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration) says that marine tourism includes beach-based recreation and tourism, tourist activities in proximity to the sea, and nautical boating, including yachting and marinas.
It also highlights coastal and ocean-related activities, including diving, maritime archaeology, surfing, cruises, and recreational fishing operations. This tourism segment plays a significant role to preserve seas and marine resources through conserving marine ecosystems, reduce marine pollution, and sustainable use of marine resources.
SM Atiqur Rarman, Director (Exploration) of Save Our Sea, a marine conservation organization said, “Bangladesh has a coral Island, Saint Martin where we can introduce reef tourism like Mesoamerican Reef. Only reef tourism Bangladesh may contribute to ocean ecology along with our GDP”.
The adventure tourism SCUBA (Self contained underwater breathing apparatus) diving in particular, has become an immensely popular leisure tourism activity, specifically over the past 10 years all over the world. Underwater diving is an activity that offers a different level of experience and sensation. But in the context of Bangladesh, it has not yet come in the government planning, he said.
Besides, he suggested that if we can start the Blue Tourism right now it could earn $1billion yearly.
The top 10 sources of tourism to the country last year were Singapore (10.6 million visitors), Indonesia (3.28 million), China (2.9 million), Thailand (1.9 million), Brunei (1.38 million), South Korea (616,783), India (600,311), the Philippines (396,062), Japan (394,540) and Taiwan (383,922).
The World Tourism Organisation UNWTO made a roadmap for 2030 and predicts aquatic tourism will play a vital role in the world tourism industry.
