State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin yesterday said Bangladesh can make a significant stride in developing tourism sector if its vast potentials are tapped in a planned manner.

He was speaking as a chief guest at the inaugural function of the three-day Mousumi Mela that began in Chittagong.

Like the previous editions, Hotel Agrabad organised the fair at its premises in observance of the World Tourism Day.

The inaugural function was also addressed by Manager, personnel management of the Hotel Agrabad AH Rafiqul Islam with its Chairman HM Khurshid Ali in the chair.

Identifying the bureaucratic tangles and exorbitant hotel tariff structure as the two major impediments, the state minister said despite government's declaration of tourism to be a priority sector, it took some three years for getting approval for some important projects in the sector.

Citing examples, he said, tourists can stay at a five star hotel spending only US$ 60 to US$ 65 a day in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia while one has to count around US$ 150 in Bangladesh for availing similar facilities.

He said the present government has brought a qualitative change in the tourism sector during the past three years in a bid to exploit full potentials of the tourism industry by

implementing many time-befitting schemes in line with the spirit of private-public competitiveness.

Referring to Malaysia, Mir Nasir said tourism can be promoted showing respect to religious sentiments.

The state minister stressed the need for development of an exclusive tourist zone to lure visitors from abroad.

He informed the meeting that the government has been contemplating to turn huge picturesque Enani-Teknaf area in Cox's Bazar into an exclusive tourist zone.

A wide range of goods including handicrafts, toiletries, food items and sarees are being put on display at the fair by various reputed companies.