Civil aviation and tourism minister M Faruk Khan on Friday said the government was planning to reduce duties on various tourism equipment including tourist carrying vehicles and tourist sports and fun gears in the next national budget to facilitate the growth of tourism industry.
‘We have already introduced on arrival visa for the foreign tourists so that local tour operators can easily attract foreigners to visit our country,’ he said while inaugurating a daylong folk festival at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city.
Bangladesh Tourism Board, the national tourism organisation, organised the folk festival to portray country’s rich tradition and heritage to the local and foreign spectators to promote tourism.
The minister said the government would upgrade Cox’s Bazar airport to an international one to make the country’s most exciting tourist spots as international tourist destinations.
‘We are planning to setup windmill in Cox’s Bazar to make the busiest tourist spot into an environment friendly place,’ he said. Noting that Bangladesh has rich culture and heritage, the minister asked the BTB to promote country’s rich folk cultures abroad by making a video documentary on it.
Faruk Khan also said BTB would hold a large scale folk festive during the upcoming T-20 Cricket World Cup next year to promote Bangladesh’s culture to the entire world through cricket fans.
The chief executive officer of BTB Akhtaruz Zaman Khan said BTB wanted to present various exciting tourist destinations and country’s rich heritage before the foreign nationals working in different foreign missions and international bodies in the country.
‘We would like to say to the foreign nationals that we not only have exciting tourist destinations but also history, tradition, costume and culture,’ he said.
After attending the festival, the BTB chief hoped that the foreign missions representatives here would convey a message to their respective countries that Bangladesh is an attractive destination for the tourists.
The folk festival staged puppet show, baul song, traditional fashion show, snake game, monkey play, pitha (cake) making, bioscope, traditional dressers, handicrafts, mehendi (hena), indigenous activities and traditional foods through 21 stalls for the visitors.
-With New Age input
