Country’s tourism master plan to be ready by December 2022

Dhaka: The long-awaited master plan to capitalize on the country’s promising tourism potentials will be ready by December 2022. Already, Phase 1 of preparing the master plan has been completed while work on Phase 2 is ongoing and Phase 3 – the last one – will be finished by the end of this year.

The announcement was made during a workshop on Draft Strategic Master Plan (Phase 2) for Preparation of Tourism Master Plan for Bangladesh at Bangabandhu International Conference Center in the capital on May 26.

Civil Aviation and Tourism State Minister Md Mahbub Ali attended the event as the chief guest, Secretary Md Mokammel Hossain as the chairperson and Standing Committee Member Sayeda Rubina Akter as the special guest.

High officials of the ministry and national tourism organisations were also present on the occasion along with reputed stakeholders and media personnel.

At the workshop, a representative of IPE Global, the international consultancy firm, engaged by the government in preparing the master plan on tourism, carried out a detail presentation on the works completed, underway and to be carried out respectively in preparing the tourism master plan.

Situation Analysis of Phase 1 is complete. Strategic Master Plan of Phase 2 is ongoing.

Phase 2 includes Development of Detailed Tourism Master Plan, Preparation of Regional and Structure Plan, National Workshop, Niche Product Development Plan, and Conceptual Architectural Plan.  

The second phase is to be completed by September 2022, said a representative of the farm during the presentation.

The third and final Phase 3 will begin in September and finish by December 2022 which will include Action Plan with Investment and Financial Strategy, National Workshop, Marketing and Promotional Strategy, Draft Tourism Master Plan, Final Tourism Master Plan and National Workshop.

On the occasion, Md Mahbub Ali, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, said, “To make the preparation of tourism master plan successful, concerted effort by all concerned, private and public, is a must. The way we are progressing with the work, even after several global hurdles like Covid-19 pandemic, it shows that we will surely be successful in completing the master plan by December 2022.”

In his speech, Md Mokammel Hossain, Secretary for Civil Aviation and Tourism, urged all national plans and goals such as Tourism Master Plan, Delta Plan, Sustainable Development Goals etc, to be aligned with one another.

“This is the only way to make the development of tourism as well as any other sector sustainable,” he claimed.

The Secretary also echoed the State Minister’s calling, saying there is no alternative to concerted efforts in this regard.

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