Gouripur (Mymensingh) Correspondent :
The World Tourism Day was observed in Gouripur Upazila of Mymensingh in a befitting manner on Tuesday aiming to raise awareness among the people about the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic values.
This year the theme of World Tourism Day is ” Rethinking Tourism”. The aim is to rethink tourism for development, including through education and jobs, and tourism’s impact on the planet and opportunities to grow more sustainably.
Marking the day, Creative Association and the Electoral Committee for Pen Award Affairs chalked out various programmes, including a human chain, rally and discussion meetings.
A human chain was formed at Gouripur Upazila Parishad premises for emphasizing the need of upgrading Gouripur Upazila into a tourism spot.
There are more than 50 (fifty) archeological sites in GouripurUpazila such as old Mosques, temples, Rajbari, Sardarbari, the ruined earthen walls of two forts (Kella Bokainagar and Kella Tajpur) old mint, ancient shrine, tomb of Nizamuddin Aulia (R:), BiranganaSakhina’s tomb, Historic Chimurani Dighi, East India Company pond. These archeological sites should be included in the preserved list of antiquities by the Department of Archeology of Bangladesh and an upazila-based museum was also demanded to set up for the new generation and tourists,.
Md. Fazar Ali , The President of the electoral committee, Engr.Mohammad Ali Zinnah, Senior Vice President of this electoral committee and former Superintendent ( Retd.) of Government Textile Vocational Institute, Mohammad Raihan Uddin Sarkar, General Secretary of Creative Association, Abdul Hai Musical Director of lacal club, Lutfar Rahman Khokan, Vice President of Gouripur Reporters Club, students, teachers and correspondents of different journals,among others, spoke highlighting the importance of the day
Hasan Maruf UNO of Gouripur Upazila said to the New Nation that we all celebrate the ‘World Tourism Day’ every year to create awareness about the social, cultural, political and economic importance of tourism as well as to help them who have the contribution in the tourism activities.
Staff Reporter from (Kishoreganj) says: Kishoreganj, District Administration including Tourism Corporation arranged a rally, discussion and postering marking the World Tourism Day on Tuesday .
A discussion meeting on” Rethinking tourism sector in Bangladesh ” at Collectorate Conference Room on Tuesday.
ADC (General) Md.Golam Mostafa presided over the discussion meeting. It was addressed among others by Civil Surgeon (CS) Dr.Saiful Islam as special guest, veteran freedom fighter Md.Asadullah, Anowar Hossain Bachu, CAB District Secretary Monowar Hossein Rony, Mohila Parishad president advocate Maya Bhowmick and senior journalist Saiful Haque Mollah Dulu.
UNB from Bagerhat adds: Tourist destinations in the country’s southern districts including world’s largest mangrove forest the Sundarbans and historic Shat Gombuj mosque are seeing huge flow of tourists as Padma Bridge has made travelling to the region easy and attractive.
The Forest Department is going to open four more eco-tourism centres in the Sundarbans to manage the rising number of tourists.
Muhammad Belayet Hossain, divisional forest officer of Sundarbans East zone, said Sundarbans is seeing a sharp rise in the number of tourists after the inauguration of the Padma Bridge.
So, four more eco-tourism centres are being set up in Alibanda, Andamanik, Shekhertek and Kalabagi to handle the huge crowd.
There are already seven eco-tourism centres at Karamjal, Herbaria, Kalagachia, Katka, Kochikhali, Dubla and Heron Point area for tourists to visit in the Sundarban.
Tourists can visit the three centres in Karamjal, Herbaria and Kalagachia with a fixed entry fee and they have to return within the day.
Tourists have to take permission from the Forest Department earlier to travel to the other four places.
On an average, more than one lakh local and foreign tourists visit the Sundarbans every year where Sundarbans division receives more than Tk one crore as revenue, said DFO Belayet.
Sundarbans directly and indirectly support the livelihood of more than 10 lakh people. This mangrove forest has been protecting the people of the southwestern region from cyclones and floods at various times.
Shat Gombuj Mosque, declared as a world heritage site by Unesco, is believed to have been built more than 600 years ago by Khan Jahan Ali in Sundarghona village of Shat Gombuj Union near Bagerhat-Khulna Highway.
On average, 1,000 tourists visit this historic place daily, said Md Jayed, custodian of Shat Gombuj Mosque.
Around five lakh tourists visited the historic mosque last year from where the mosque received Tk 57 lakh as revenue.
The number of tourists and revenue from the sector have increased due to the Padma Bridge, he added.
Bagerhat Tourist Police Inspector Mosharf Hossain said Tourist Police are working to provide round-the-clock security to tourists here.
World Tourism Day was observed on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism has taken an initiative to observe ‘World Tourism Day 2022’ in Bangladesh.
This year’s theme ‘Rethinking Tourism’ is set by the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
