Dr. Syed Nesar Ahmad Rumy :
Development of tourism sector is a much talked issue in recent time. Though, last fifty years there have no tangible breakthrough in the promotion of tourism sector in Bangladesh. We know the lack of customary and conventional tourist spots is one of the causes of poor promotion of tourism sector in Bangladesh. We have few tourist spots and those are popularly known to all of us. In this respect we can name Cox’s Bazar, CTG Hill districts region, Snt. Martin Island, Sylhet region, Sundarbans and some places of northern and south western areas in Bangladesh. Those are conventional tourist spots. The attractions of these places have already come to the peak. And after getting certain number of tourists those spots do not attract more tourists of home and abroad. And now a huge number of tourists are going abroad for holidaying from Bangladesh in our neighboring countries. So to break this stalemate in this sector we should think ‘out of the box’ to bring a breakthrough of our highly potential tourism sector in Bangladesh.
In this respect we can consider some unconventional tourism ideas and those are common border rivers and border areas with tourism importance, season wise crops fields and season-wise orchards visit etc. We all know that Bangladesh is a country of rivers and crop land. Exploiting tourism potentials of these might be an important component of promotion of domestic tourism in Bangladesh. The common rivers crisscrossing India Bangladesh borders are mainly the Padma, the Ichamati at Sathkhira, the Mahananda at Panchagarh, Someswari at Netrokona, the Feni River at Khagarachari and many others. The river cruise at Padma from Daulatpur of Kushtia to Chapainawabganj might be a potential tourist spot.
Fix these rivers as tourist spots; we can promote domestic tourism to a certain point that it can be a place of attraction to a large number of people in our country. Suppose we can take river from Rajshahi to Charghat upazila as a pilot project. This area river Padma is the dividing line between India and Bangladesh. People of both the countries are to fish in this area. The famous ‘Ghorial’ crocodile’s habitat is also located in this area. Through privet and public initiatives this area can be an ideal area for the people of both the countries. Initially some river cruising boat service can be introduced. And this service may start from Rajshahi city ghat to Charghat Police Academy ghat. This service might take not more than 4 hours from Rajshahi to Charghat and in return from Charghat to Rajshahi. With proper advertisement and ensuring sufficient security this service has a good chance to be popular one. In this way domestic tourism has a big chance to be flourished. Small business and some other economic activities have a chance to be flourished along the bank of the rivers of Bangladesh side. We know Bangladesh has not many iconic historical structures and traditional world-class tourist spots which can attract people from abroad. So we have to think out of the box to attract foreign tourists. Special arrangement might be created for foreigners as exclusive tourist zones.
The river named Ichamati crisscrossing Indo-Bangla boundary at Shatkhira region. The other side of the river is 24 Pargana’s subdivision named Taki. People from that area are used to cruise this river and it is their one of the recreational items. For that reason some business activities created there are supporting to promote tourism there. We can also think of that such type of activities promoting tourism in our side of that river. People of Indian side are used to cruise this river and it is their recreations also. Round the year people from both the countries visit this area. But a shortage of required facilities is one of the barriers promoting tourism in our side. We can get videos of river cruising in YouTube from Indian entrepreneurs and tourist. The concerned authority can think of promoting tourism in that area.
There are many other non-traditional tourist destinations in our country. But due to lack of initiatives and poorness of positive thinking those do not come to the forefront and are kept unutilized. We are only busy with sea beaches, Hill Tracts, Sylhet, Sundarbans and some historical structures located in different places in the country. But thinking out of the box, the tourism sector in our country has a very bright chance to be flourished manifold.
We have many rivers crisscrossing Indo-Bangladesh boundary. Exploiting the probability of flourishing tourism of those places this sector might contribute more in our National economy. Among the rivers, Mahananda at Tentulia, Someswari at Netrokona, Brahmaputra at Kurigram can be referred in this regard. Apart from the rivers there are many other components which can help to promote domestic tourism. In this context we can chalk out the season-wise tourism plan in our country. For example, in the Benglai month of Jaishtha we can use the attraction of vast mango and litchi orchards in Northern and South-western areas of Bangladesh. Many People might be interested to see the ripe and succulent litchis, mangoes in the orchards and there might be a provision to collect mangoes and litchis by the visiting tourists themselves paying appropriate charges. In this way our tourism might be inflated domestically. Apart from this the vast agricultural fields with full of crops can also be a very good component of attracting people from cities and towns.
To do this entire thing we need proper security, communication modes and infrastructures for supporting visiting tourists in those areas. The concerned authority in our country should take necessary steps to materialize this idea. Hope in this way our tourism sector will be booming up in the days to come.
(Dr. Rumy is a former Civil Servant
and Freelancer).
