We welcome the international conference being hosted this week by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism on the potential to grow tourism related to Buddhist historical sites in Bangladesh and South Asia.
The event, which is being attended by ministers and officials from over a dozen countries, supported by the UN World Tourism Organisation, will draw high level attention to the many important Buddhist religious places like Basu Bihar in Bogra, and Mainamati Shalban Bihar in Comilla which are found in our nation.
Atish Dipankar, the preacher who helped take Buddhism to China, Tibet, and Japan, was born in Bajrajogini village, while Basu Bihar is believed to have been visited by Gautama Buddha himself. Shampur Bihar of Paharpur in Naogaon district was also one of the main centres of higher learning in the sub-continent during the Pala dynasty.
Chinese scholars believe there are dozens more important Buddhist archaeological sites which remain to be excavated in the nation.
This heritage matters to all Bangladeshis. It is a valuable reminder of the significant pre-Islamic civilisations and peoples which inhabited this land and the importance of celebrating our nation’s rich cultural heritage.
Bangladesh currently gets less than 10,000 of the over 1.3 million visitors who travel to Buddhist sites in Bhutan, India and Nepal. With affluence increasing in East Asia, this market is predicted to double in the next decade.
Promoting interest in Bangladesh’s many existing and yet to be fully explored Buddhist historical sites has huge potential to grow the number of visitors to our nation as part of the “Visit Bangladesh Year-2016” initiative.
Attracting only a small fraction of the many foreign tourists who visit Buddhist heritage sites in the region could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
We hope the conference will be successful not only in helping to support jobs in our growing tourism sector, but in increasing public interest generally in the wide diversity of historical sites in our country.
Bangladesh can only gain from initiatives to celebrate and attract more interest in the nation’s rich cultural heritage to attract more funding and visitors.
All types of historical sites in Bangladesh deserve more attention to improve expectations and standards for their maintenance and preservation.
