The government on Tuesday assured of providing all necessary supports to help grow the tourism sector but noted that there is still lack of adequate initiative to exploit the huge potential the sector offers.
"Money is not a problem in tourism sector as we will work to manage it if needed but lack of proper enterprises from the private and public levels is the main problem", said acting secretary of Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry M Mohibul Haque, reports UNB.
The secretary came up with the observations while addressing as the chief guest at a certificate giving ceremony of 'Tourism Fellowship 2018' jointly organised by Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) and Aviation and Tourism Journalists' Forum of Bangladesh (ATJFB) at Jatiya Press Club on Tuesday.
Mohibul Haque said Bangladesh is yet to get expected attainment in tourism sector for the inadequacy of apposite and visionary initiatives though the government has a cooperative mentality.
He said Bangladesh did not have any annual data of foreign tourists' visiting the country which is a major problem for the sector and assured to realise a tourists' data development system.
"We are working to develop a specialised software through which we can measure the number of annual foreign tourists visiting Bangladesh with the help of the immigration department," said Mohibul Haque.
BTB Chief Executive Officer M Jahangir Hossain, The Bangladesh Monitor Editor Kazi Wahidul Alam, Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) Director Taufiq Rahman, Deputy Manager (PR) Bangladesh Tourism Board Akhtar Ahamed, ATJFB President Nadira Kiran and General Secretary Tanzim Anwar, among others, spoke at the programme.
Ten journalists from print, electronic media and news agency have been awarded for their significant contributions to the development of tourism sector and encouraging others to help policymakers taking the proper steps through objective reporting on the growing sector in the programme.
The fellowship recipients are AKM Moinuddin (UNB), Masud Rumi (Daily Kaler Kantho), Jamal Uddin (Daily Ittefaq), Altaf Hossain (Daily Samokal), Emrul Kawser Emon (Daily Bhorer Dak), Tawhidul Islam (Amader Somoy), Ziaul Haq Sabuj (Bangla Vision), Imtiaz Ahmed (Somoy TV), Dinar Sultana (BTV) and Farhana Neela (Mohona TV).
The acting secretary said Bangladesh is a country of immense prospect in tourism but it could not attain satisfactory achievement from it yet.
Greeting the fellowship winning journalists, he laid emphasis on encouraging the reporters with fellowships in the tourism sector so that they, in near future, can invite foreign journalists in Bangladesh to make them familiarised with the country's potential tourist zones as they can promote it in their respective countries, too.
BTB CEO Jahangir Hossain said public and private bodies have to work behind their routine and enlarge the working areas to develop the sector.
He also said government is ready to cooperate anyone interested to put anything good for the sector and they will encourage them.