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Red tape, poor infrastructure
FROM PAGE 12
organisation, said the sector has not been able to reap much benefit despite huge prospects.
“The main obstacles are the bureaucratic tangles, inadequate infrastructure facilities, backward communications, and a lack of decent accommodation, safety and security, professionalism and skilled manpower.”
Santos Kumar Dev, chairman of the department of tourism and hospitality management in Dhaka University, said Bangladesh has bountiful resources to offer to both local and foreign travellers with its scenic beauty, ethnic diversity, unique cuisines, rich heritage and historical sites, profound religious sentiments and much more.
Toufiq Rahman, secretary general of the Bangladesh chapter of Pacific Asia Travel Association, said cities and towns lack an adequate number of quality accommodation, decent public transport and safe roads.
Besides, he said the tourism infrastructure is not as developed as it should be.
The country is yet to offer quality resorts and hotels with proper recreational facilities that would attract tourists. They also lack well-trained personnel to guide the tourists, and different means of entertainment at the tourist spots.
Moreover, he said the lack of community support is a major barrier for the sector’s development.
Travel agents, tour operators or guides; Hajj and Umrah agencies; hoteliers, restaurant owners, resort and amusement park owners; and aviation and transportation owners are among the stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality sector.
According to TOAB, around 40 lakh people are employed in the industry.
At present, the sector accounts for 3.5-4 percent of the GDP.
Experts say this contribution can be easily raised to five to six percent through coordinated courses of action.
Toufiq Rahman further said the tourism sector will not flourish unless foreigners are drawn in droves.
During the pre-Covid time, only around three lakh foreigners would visit the country every year, most of whom were business tourists.
“Only 10-15,000 foreign tourists come to Bangladesh for leisure purposes. We will have to take up more measures to attract foreign tourists for the betterment of the sector.”
He added that according to government statistics, there are around 1,600 tourist spots in the country. “But how many of us are aware of those spots?
“This is because the government does not have proper planning to promote and brand those destinations at home or abroad.”
Santos Kumar said, “We don’t have any promotional activities and social media marketing in this regard, which other countries have.”
Afisa Jannat Saleh, the first female vice president of TOAB, said the unsafe environment for women is another major obstacle.
“Women do not feel secure to travel [in our country] alone for tourism purposes.”
The first national tourism policy, formulated in 1992, said all modern entertainment facilities would be created for foreign tourists and a masterplan would focus on Cox’s Bazar and the Sundarbans.
However, in reality, none of that ever happened.

Humans left
FROM PAGE 12
The rover, which is collecting samples on Mars that will be brought back to Earth, has captured images of trash while on its mission.
In June, Nasa’s team on Earth spotted a light in the distance in an image sent back by Perseverance, which they then directed the rover to take a look.
A few weeks later, Perseverance entered the Hogwallow Flats region and acquired a high-resolution, 360-degree Mastcam-Z panorama. The image showed the bright light was the reflection from a thermal blanket.
This that was used to protect the car-sized vehicle from extreme temperatures it experienced during landing. The blanket is tucked in the corner of several rocks and appears to reflect light.
More recently in June, Perseverance came upon a piece of shredded Dacron netting that helped it land safely on Mars. And due to Martian wind, the tight netting began to untangle and was seen three weeks later as a ball of knotted, stringlike material.
Then there are the dead robots on Mars, specifically Nasa’s Opportunity that was active from 2004 to mid-2018.
According to Kilic, most of the robots are still intact and space agencies view them as historic monuments rather than discarded trash.
“When you add up the mass of all spacecraft that have ever been sent to Mars, you get about 22,000 pounds (9979 kilograms),” Kilic wrote in The Conversation.