Economic and Employment Opportunities of Tourism in Bangladesh : a Study on Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation
Economic and Employment Opportunities of Tourism in Bangladesh : A Study on Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation
1. Prelude
The New Millennium and the coming decades are very much crucial for the developing countries to achieve sustainable economic growth. Tourism is considered to be a large income generator of the world economy contributing over 10 percent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). For at least one third of the developing countries, the tourism receipts are the main source of export revenue and the tourism industry generates sustainable economic benefits to the developing countries.
The exceptional growth of tourism over the last 50 years is going to be one of the most remarkable economic and social phenomena of the 21st century. The number of international arrivals shows an evolution from a mere 25 million arrivals in 1950 to the 763 million of 2004 representing an average annual growth rate of more than 7 percent over a period of 50 years – well above the average annual economic growth rate for the same period. Tourism has clearly outperformed all the other sectors of the economy and has grown into the most significant economic activity in the world.
The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007 of World Economic Forum (WEF), which aims to explore the factors and policies driving travel and tourism competitiveness in nations worldwide, has found Bangladesh fourth from the last among 124 countries. Endless neglect to this sector by the successive governments is to blame for the sad situation. Bangladesh has been ranked 120th. Among the neighbors, India is ranked 65th, Sri Lanka 79th, Pakistan 103rd and Nepal 106th. In 2006, the sector generated 10.3 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP), providing 234 million jobs ; or 8.2 percent of total world employment.
Tourism has many faces, eco-tourism is one of them. Eco-tourism is comparatively a new term in tourism literature. The term “Eco-tourism” blends “ecology” and “tourism” and covers
1. Prelude
The New Millennium and the coming decades are very much crucial for the developing countries to achieve sustainable economic growth. Tourism is considered to be a large income generator of the world economy contributing over 10 percent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). For at least one third of the developing countries, the tourism receipts are the main source of export revenue and the tourism industry generates sustainable economic benefits to the developing countries.
The exceptional growth of tourism over the last 50 years is going to be one of the most remarkable economic and social phenomena of the 21st century. The number of international arrivals shows an evolution from a mere 25 million arrivals in 1950 to the 763 million of 2004 representing an average annual growth rate of more than 7 percent over a period of 50 years – well above the average annual economic growth rate for the same period. Tourism has clearly outperformed all the other sectors of the economy and has grown into the most significant economic activity in the world.
The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007 of World Economic Forum (WEF), which aims to explore the factors and policies driving travel and tourism competitiveness in nations worldwide, has found Bangladesh fourth from the last among 124 countries. Endless neglect to this sector by the successive governments is to blame for the sad situation. Bangladesh has been ranked 120th. Among the neighbors, India is ranked 65th, Sri Lanka 79th, Pakistan 103rd and Nepal 106th. In 2006, the sector generated 10.3 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP), providing 234 million jobs ; or 8.2 percent of total world employment.
Tourism has many faces, eco-tourism is one of them. Eco-tourism is comparatively a new term in tourism literature. The term “Eco-tourism” blends “ecology” and “tourism” and covers
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