The World Tourism Day (WTD) was celebrated in the capital with high aspiration to attract one million tourists next year, declared as tourism year, reports BSS. “I urge all to cooperate with the government’s ‘visit Bangladesh - 2016’ campaign to attract one million foreign tourists next year, which was half a million last year,” Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon said after leading a colourful rally marking the day in the capital.
This year, the WTD is being celebrated under the theme “One billion tourists, one billion opportunities”, set by the United Nations, to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value.
The theme is particularly relevant as the international community adopted the post-2015 agenda with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) where tourism has been identified as a sector that “creates jobs and promotes local culture and products”.
Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB), the country’s National Tourism Organization (NTO) observed the day arranging different programmes including the rally.
Rashed Khan Menon led a rally from Matsya Bhaban and paraded up to TSC of Dhaka University while members of the tourist society of Dhaka University made it lively by wearing traditional customs and carrying different folklore gears.
The newly formed tourist police escorted the rally that was participated by different public and private tourism organisations including the BTB, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC), Tour Operators’ Associations of Bangladesh (TOAB), Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) and Aviation and Tourism Journalists’ Forum of Bangladesh (ATJFB).
After the rally, Menon said this year’s tourism day carries an extra significance for Bangladesh as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently declared 2016 as Tourism Year and launched ‘Visit Bangladesh 2016’ campaign targeting to attract one million foreign tourists.
The minister said the tourism year campaign will be kicked off by organising a beach carnival at the country’s most exciting tourist spot Cox’s Bazar on  December 31 this year. “It will be our kick off programme, after that a series of activities will be carried out through the year to attract both foreign and domestic tourists,” he said.
He said the government will celebrate historic days like International Language Day,
Independence Day, Bengali New Year and Victory Day of 2016 in a tourist friendly way to make the campaign a success.
Centering the tourism year, Menon said the government will organize a two-day international conference titled ‘National Buddhist Workshop and International Buddhist Circuit Conference’ with
participation of 13 Buddhist populated countries in
the capital from October 27 aiming at showcasing the Bangladesh Buddhist heritages to the foreigners.