Bangladesh: Tourism

India remains biggest inbound market

Tourists from neighbouring India dominated arrivals in Bangladesh in 2010, accounting for nearly 60% of total visitor numbers. With stability in Bangladesh and India’s continued strong economic increase, trade links are deepening. The opening up of trade routes through Chittagong and the Northeast states of India have as well encouraged additional Indian businesses to use the sea ports of Bangladesh.

Arrivals from China, Japan and Australia show significant growth

Although much lower in absolute numbers than arrivals from India, China, Japan and Australia registered a significant increase in number of visitors to Bangladesh in 2010. With Bangladesh emerging as a low-cost manufacturing hub, the country as well welcomed additional business traffic in 2010.

Improved air links drive tourism

China Southern Airlines saw a marked improvement in traffic to Bangladesh since its first flight in 2009. In 2010, Air China, the other Chinese airline, reported a surge in Chinese visitors to Bangladesh, reflecting China’s increased interest in Bangladesh, both for tourism inclunding strategic investment from the Chinese government. In the latter half of 2010, the governments of China and Bangladesh moved towards another air link between Dhaka and Chongqing, China’s major port city. India’s Jet Airways landed in Dhaka, too, in 2010. United Airways Limited became the first listed aviation company in Bangladesh in 2010, inducting Airbuses and ATR aircraft on domestic flights.

Revamping of Bangladesh National Tourism Office continues in 2010

First initiated in 2008, the revamping of the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation went through several rough patches in 2010. During the year, several initiatives such as revamping the Tourism Policy, the formation of the Bangladesh Parjatan Board and the National Tourism Council were started, but the actual changes on the ground were slow and stakeholders were often at cross purposes. The new board still remains under the Ministry of Civil Aviation and not a separate tourism ministry. Meanwhile, the private sector continued to formulate its own strategies, resulting in uncoordinated attempts to attract tourism.

Australian and Chinese visitors to gain prominence over the estimate period

Visitors from Australia and China are expected to increase at CAGRs of 21% and 17% respectively over the estimate period, after the leader India, the traditionally strongest source market for Bangladesh. Chinese visitors’ increase in prominence is expected to be a direct consequence of a steady increase in investment from China in Bangladesh’s infrastructure and improving business links.

Analyse of the sector 25/11/2010

Performance continues to suffer due to a lot of bottlenecks

The Bangladesh tourism industry continued to suffer from a lot of bottlenecks at the end of the review period of the major problems facing the country in the development of its tourism industry was its poor image, which suffered due to the lack of any sustained tourism branding efforts outside the country. As well the infrastructure hurdles, such as lack of proper connecting roads, ports and airports, inhibited the increase of tourism in Bangladesh. Continued natural disasters did not help the cause of tourism development, with scenes of flash flooding across Western nations’ television channels spoiling the tourism image of the country. On top of these problems, the growing violence in the country has given rise to security concerns for tourists and hampered the increase of tourism in the country.

Western tourist inflow declines and tourist numbers from Asia increase

The review period witnessed negative increase in arrivals from Western markets. However, inbound tourism flows from certain Asia Pacific source markets helped counteract an otherwise additional severe decline. India continued to be responsible for the greatest number of travellers to Bangladesh, making up the majority of South Asian tourists flocking to Bangladesh. Tourist numbers from China as well grew well. Business activities with neighbouring nations were on rise, and this helped the inbound traffic grow in Bangladesh.

Demand for travel accommodation stagnates

Travel accommodation sector increase was limited in 2008 owing to the stagnating tourist inflow and business travellers in the country. There was no major project that was announced or completed and the lower tariffs made sure that the price increase for the sector continued to be of the lowest in the region. The sales per outlet for the sector grew, but were still less than the increase witnessed in some neighbouring nations that are witnessing rapid increase in their tourism industry. The occupancy levels of hotels remained way below the desired level and contributed to in general stagnating request for the travel accommodation sector in Bangladesh.

Plans to establish “National Tourism Authority” unveiled

of the major developments of 2008 was the announcement to abolish the present Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) and replace it with a new tourism body called the National Tourism Authority. The new body will undertake amount the regulatory and policy decisions and actively promote the private investments in the tourism industry in Bangladesh. It as well plans to exit amount of its business activities in order to provide a level playing field for private players entering the tourism industry in Bangladesh.

Air travel request drives the transportation sector The air travel from neighbouring nations such as India and China increased significantly and helped the ransportation sector grow in Bangladesh. The national-owned carrier Biman Bangladesh dominated the air travel sector in Bangladesh, connecting Dhaka the national capital with as a lot of as 27 destinations worldwide. Bangladesh has amount kinds of transportation and is developing fast to connect its tourist destinations to provide comfortable journeys between them.