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Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon on Wednesday urged the authorities concerned to take proper steps for ending visa complications faced by potential foreign tourists, along with other problems.
The minister made the plea at a Tourism Festival arranged by the Aviation and Tourism Journalists’ Forum of Bangladesh (ATJFB) in Dhaka, reports UNB.
ATJFB organised the tourism festival with musical show styled “Tourism Fest, 2017” with the administrative support of Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) marking the World Tourism Day 2017 for the first time.
Urging the concerned people not to create artificial market crisis in the tourism sector, Menon said, "We have many problems including visa complications as I already have received some complaints from different quarters."
Bangladesh is making exemplary progress in the tourism sector overcoming many problems and obstacles not only in the country but also outside it, he added.
The tourism minister also said if government and non-government organisations invest in this sector properly, the country can earn more foreign currency from the tourism sector than the garments industry.
"The materials of the tourism sector need not to be imported as all the materials are available in the country," he said, in apparent reference to most raw materials and other inputs in the garment sector being imported.
Mentioning the incident of Holey Artisan Bakery militant attack last year, the Minister said it is a matter of sorrow that some internal problems of the country have created problems in this sector, but now the country has proved how safe it is for the tourists from home and abroad.
Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) ChairmanAkhtaruzzaman Khan Kabir, BTB CEO Md. Nasir Uddin among others also spoke while ATJFB President Nadira Kiran presided over the festival.
The government and different organisations have arranged many programmes to celebrate the World Tourism Day with the global theme 'Sustainable Tourism - a Tool for Development'.