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Climbing a moutain

ALASDAIR MACDONALD
Where do you begin with an article about 'Tourism in Bangladesh?' Well, when stuck it makes sense, as the adage goes, 'to begin by writing what you know.'
So, what do I know as not-quite-a-tourist in Bangladesh having lived here for two years but still a foreigner with a distinct perspective? After all, as a photographer I travel around the country to a greater degree than most foreigners and often a great deal more than most Bangladeshis I know. But, having been asked to write a piece 'from a tourist's perspective' I found it difficult to know where to begin sorting my thoughts. Which is quite fitting, I suppose, as most foreigners find their experiences of Bangladesh quite a mixed bag: good and bad, infuriating and charming, incredibly beautiful and outright ugly.
In the end I decided to dispense altogether with the typical
article on tourism, and use this space instead to share some unasked for, perhaps unwanted, observations with those in the so-called 'tourist industry.'
I will not beat around the bush any more: Parjatan in its present form must go! What motivation can there be for any hotel manager or hotel staff to provide friendly service or even attempt to attract tourists to fill their hotels, when with an empty hotel their wages remain the same low and the workload matches.
Tourism must be privatized. Bangladesh is a product to be sold to the world. This obviously means marketing its assets. What are they, I hear you ask?
Well, here's my top three: firstly, the Sylhet and Moulvi Bazar regions offer a virtual Garden of Eden. The tea estates can be packaged and presented as a romantic idyll for tourists and deshis alike. But, Westerners, in particular, have a penchant for the 'colonial experience' as hardly needs to be proved by
looking to India and their recent boom in luxury Raj-themed hotels. Many of the traditional Zamindari houses and Rajbaris around the country also provide a perfect backdrop for such developments.
Secondly, the Chittagong Hilltracts offer a unique experience of a borderland area where one distinct region and culture transforms into another. South Asians become Southeast Asians before your very eyes.
Last, by but no means least, Bangladesh's greatest tourist asset by any standard is of course the Sundarbans: one of the world's truly extraordinary habitats. But how would you know? It is easier to travel in comfort around remote areas of the Amazon or Sub-Saharan Africa these days than it is the Sundarbans. Moreover, the chance to do so is fast disappearing through the ambivalence and inaction of an entire population that sits back and watches as a few greedy individuals plunder
one of the earth's greatest resources. Hey, it's not just Bangladesh who will lose out when the remaining percentage of the Sundarbans has gone for good.
Let us face some hard facts. Given the current trends in global tourism, post 9-11 , the Bangladeshi tourist industry is facing an uphill battle, and in a country as flat as this one you probably have little experience in climbing mountains while fighting. But there is some hope on that flat horizon. The highway through Bangladesh and Burma, connecting India to the rest of Southeast Asia, must be realized, and the country must be ready to cater to the flow of overland tourists. Perhaps it will be just a trickle to start with, but throughout Asia, time and again, the same trend has been seen. Where the backpackers lead, the rest and the rich! will follow. So, be prepared...