Dhaka travel mart, the country's biggest gathering of travel service-related companies, starts tomorrow at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.

Some 42 organisations from 15 countries will take part in the three-day exposition to promote and explore the untapped potential of the industry.

Wolfgang Vollmann, director of Unesco Bangladesh, will inaugurate the fair. M Mahbubur Rahman, chairman of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, and Abdul Mannan MP, president of Pacific Asia Travel Association's Bangladesh chapter, will also be present.

At a press conference in Dhaka yesterday, Kazi Wahidul Alam, editor of travel magazine Bangladesh Monitor and organiser of the tourism extravaganza, said the fair will help boost tourism and create scope for increasing cooperation among tourism service provid-ers of the participating countries.

"The fair will set the stage for inter-country cooperation in tourism sector. As a host country, Bangladesh has a lot to achieve from the fair especially by highlighting tourism potential of key local spots," he said.

At the fair, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, Nepal Tourism Board, Tourism Malaysia, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Druk Air, Dragonair, Air Macau, Cosmic Air, Mahar Air will offer special packages.

A seminar on "Tourism Industry and the Role of Private and Public Sector" will be held on the sidelines of the fair. Subhash Goyal, president of Travel Agents' Association of India, Imtiaz Moqbil, a renowned travel writer from Thailand, and Sharifah Loon, director of Malaysia Tourism Board, will speak at the seminar.

The fair will remain open daily

from 10:00am to 8:00pm. Entry fee is fixed at Tk 20. There will be prizes that include air tickets for visitors during the fair as well as a grand raffle draw on the concluding day.

Managing Director of Biman Mahmoodur Rahman, President of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (Toab) Faridul Haque, President of Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (Atab) M Muhaimin Saleh, Director (Marketing and Sales) of GMG Airlines Ismail R Chowdhury and Country Manager of Amadeus Mustafa Kamal were present at the press conference.

Biman is the official carrier and co-sponsor, GMG the co-sponsor, Toab and Atab the co-organisers and Amadeus, the technology partner of the fair.