DHAKA: Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) has been following the path shown by Bangladesh Tourism Corporation (BTC) for which failure the board was formed, industry insiders said.

“The board is not being able to attain its goals...nothing happened in last few years excepting the participation in some international fairs,” said Kazi Wahidul Alam, editor of fortnightly Bangladesh Monitor, the pioneer publication in the tourism sector.

“In fact, a bureaucrats-dependent board of the BTB will not be able to discharge its duties properly,” he said.

The Secretary of the Tourism Ministry is chairman of the board of directors of the BTB. Most of the members of the board are also bureaucrats. Moreover, a bureaucrat is the chief executive of the board.

In fact, bureaucrats dominate the entire organogram of the Bangladesh Tourism Board, the industry insiders observed.

“You see, a bureaucrat comes to the BTB for couple of years. As soon as s/he is accustomed to functions of an institution dealing with a special sector like tourism, the official is transferred to another institution,” Wahidul Alam said describing the negative aspect of too much bureaucrats-dependent BTB.

The tour operators are also frustrated over performance of the Bangladesh Tourism Board.

“We hoped that the board will bridge between the tour operators and other private entrepreneurs alongside campaign, tourism promotion and fruitful road shows,” said Masud Hossain, a director of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB).

“But, we did not see that,” said Masud, also managing director of Bengal Tours Limited, leading tourism operator of the country.

Although the BTB was formed following “failure” of the BTC, discrimination persists between the two government bodies.

“The chairman post of the Tourism Corporation is equivalent to an additional secretary while the head of the Tourism Board is a joint secretary ranked official... It’s not acceptable,” said the Bangladesh Monitor editor.

Following alleged failure of the BTC, the 1/11 caretaker government took the initiative to launch the BTB to flourish the tourism sector of the country. The successive Awami League government gave the legal structure and launched the Bangladesh Tourism Board.

As the board apparently failed to achieve the target, Dhaka University’s Tourism and Hospitality Department’s chairman prof Mujib Uddin Ahmed said that the board lacked in visionary people.

“And the people there are always interested about participating in fairs abroad, foreign tours. There is no effort to formulate plan and policy for developing the tourism,” he said.

The tourism expert, who himself is a member of the board of directors, has also doubt about power and capacity of the policy-level board of the BTB.

“However, we should not rely only on the BTB... All concerned have to work for development of the country’s tourism sector,” said the DU professor.

BDST: 1156 HRS, MAY 24, 2014