Tourism sector is likely to be treated as a new focus area in the coming national budget for 2014-15 for creation of jobs. Finance ministry officials said the sector would be included in the ‘focus list’ in addition to power, infrastructure and human resources development in 2014-15 fiscal year. The government believes that development of tourism would create jobs while the rate of unemployment, especially among educated youth, kept on soaring.
Economists have already expressed worry over the present trend of employment in the formal sector because of sluggish investment by the private sector over the last couple of years.
The private sector is seen as the main employer of about 2.7 million young people who become eligible for jobs every year.
A third of them could be absorbed a year and the rest remain under-employed or self-employed while a large number of them seek jobs overseas, mainly in the oil-rich Arab countries.
Finance minister AMA Muhith would highlight the tourism sector in his budget speech. There will be a separate publication on the sector during the announcement of budget on June 5 in the parliament.
Finance ministry officials said Muhith might announce new projects for tourist attraction in his home town in Sylhet, in addition to further development of the popular tourist spots in different parts of the country.
He might announce duty benefits for the tour operators to import necessary goods for establishment of hotel and motels, they said.
Stakeholders of the country’s tourism sector have long been demanding for duty-free import of tourism vehicles.
The World Travel and Tourism Council forecast that total contribution of travel and tourism sector to Bangladesh’s GDP would rise by 7.9 per cent in the 2014 from 4.7 per cent in 2013.
The report said last year Bangladesh travel and tourism sector directly supported 13,28,500 jobs that is 1.8 per cent of total employment and it is expected to rise by 4 per cent in 2014.
-With New Age input
