State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali on Thursday said the country's first-ever tourism master plan would be completed by December to build a sustainable tourism industry attracting more inbound and domestic tourists.
"The much-awaited master plan will play an important role in boosting the country's tourism as we need a properly coordinated guideline for basic development in our leisure industry," he said.
State Minster for Civil Aviation and Tourism M Mahbub Ali CollectedThe state minister was speaking as the chief guest at a workshop, titled "Draft Strategic Master Plan (Phase II), Preparation of Tourism Master Plan for Bangladesh", at Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Dhaka.
Ali said the master plan is being formulated considering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) on tourism as well as aligning the government's Vision 2041 and Delta Plan.
The master plan was supposed to be completed by June last year, but due to the pandemic the new target of completion month has been fixed for December.
Presided over by Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry Secretary Md Mokammal Hossain, the inaugural session of the workshop was also addressed by Sayeda Rubina Akhtar, member of the parliamentary standing committee on civil aviation and tourism ministry.
The Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) under the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry engaged a reputed international consultancy firm, named IPE Global, to prepare a master plan on tourism.
IPE Global Limited is an Indian international development consulting group known for providing technical assistance and solutions for development and sustainable growth in developing countries.
Bangladesh has set a target of attracting 10 million tourists and earning a revenue of $8 billion by 2041.
In the first phase, the consultants analyzed the tourism sector and evaluated the potential of tourism products in all 64 districts of the country.
In the second phase, the team identified different areas or products that need special focus to boost destination planning and ensure the overall development of the sector.
In the last and final phase, the identification of suitable areas for various tourism development activities and interventions would be completed.
It is expected that once implemented the master plan would help tourism become the third largest foreign currency earner of Bangladesh, after apparels and remittance.