It is not for long that someone's curriculum vitae (CV) or bio-data has started including travel as a hobby. No one in our country would have thought that travel or tourism could be one's profession even two decades ago. But a review of the global economy reveals that tourism has been a thriving industry for decades. In our country, though, the context of tourism is different. Yet for travellers in our country, travel means going abroad and for those who are regular travellers, travel is an adventurous activity or extreme entertainment, much of which is stuck in the midst of low-cost outing at home and a trip abroad.
To have an idea of the burgeoning tourism industry, a look at India's economy may be enough. In 2017, 9.2 per cent of the total GDP of India came from the tourism sector amounting to 240 billion US dollars. In 2018-2019, the total budget size of Bangladesh was 55.33 billion US dollars! The tourism sector has provided employment for about four and a half crores of India's citizens, which comes to 8.10 per cent of the total employment.
Now how does tourism fare in Bangladesh? A review of the "Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2019" reveals that Bangladesh's position in world tourism is 120th. Had the earlier trend continued, the country was supposed to be at the bottom of this position. But it has made some progress of late in the welfare of nature. It is ranked 49th in the "Total Number of Known Species" and 43rd in the "Oral & Intangible Cultural Heritage". There has also been some progress in "Safety & Security" from 123rd to 105th.
The good sign is that tourism is becoming popular with the young generation in this country. If the policymakers can make good of young tourists' enthusiasm, the sector indeed has a bright future. In a land of 160 million people, internal tourism can generate substantial revenue. The country is endowed with several tourist attractions of unique nature like the world's longest sea beach and the Sunderbans, a mangrove with a difference. A lack of professionalism stands in the way of promoting natural sites and spots of tourist attraction. Investment in the sector under public-private partnership (PPP) for quality hospitality, ensuring social safety and security can be an answer to the many problems facing tourism here.
In order to achieve the sustainable development goals, Bangladesh needs to place more importance on the tourism industry to become a middle-income country through the implementation of the charter 'Vision-2021'. In line with this, if the sector can achieve the target of 2.5 million tourists' itinerary in Bangladesh by 2021, through infrastructure development, increased international publicity, unique and traditional cultural performances, foreigners will be interested to visit the land. However, the security issue has to be addressed effectively. But for a country of Bangladesh's size, overexploitation of tourist sites may spell disaster. From the very beginning, the emphasis should be on eco-tourism.