World Tourism Day celebrated with emphasis on brand Bangladesh

Bangladesh celebrated World Tourism Day in a festive mood in a befitting manner in all districts and the capital, emphasising a proper branding of the country's exciting tourism prospects for people at home and abroad.

The Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB), and Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) under the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry, and various other  organizations chalked out weeklong programs in Dhaka, while district administrations brought out colorful rallies and organized seminars marking the day with this year's theme : "Tourism and Jobs: A better future for all," like elsewhere around the world.

The day's program in Dhaka began with a colourful cycle rally at 8:30am on Friday from Manik Mia Avenue to International Mother Language Institute via Farmgate, Kawranbazar, Hatirjheel, and Maghbazar.

Riding a bicycle, State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali inaugurated the rally, alongside cyclists of the Bangladesh Cycle Lane Implementing Council, and tourist police.

After the rally, BTB and BPC jointly held a seminar on this year's theme at 10am at the International Mother Language Institute auditorium where the state minister was the chief guest.

Mahbub Ali underlined the need for the proper branding of various tourism products at home and abroad to increase the numbers of both domestic and foreign tourists in the country.

He said his ministry would take the initiative to develop more facilities for women travellers in the country.

The state minister urged both local and foreign enterprises to invest in the country's tourism sector alongside the government.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Md Mohibul Haque said the government would  Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation offices in all eight divisional headquarters to provide various tourism services.

He also said the government plans to establish a tourism training center in the capital to develop  skilled human resources for the hospitality sector.

Travel magazine Parjatan Bichitra, organized a three-day tourism fair styled "8th Asian Tourism Fair" which began on Thursday at the Bashundhara Convention Centre in the capital with the participation of 150 different tourism service providers from eight countries.

On the sidelines of the fair, the BPC organized a seminar, "Tourism & Job: 4th Industrialized Revolution and Challenges."

As part of the weeklong program, in association with the Bangladesh Tourism Board, the Aviation and Tourism Journalists' Forum of Bangladesh (ATJFB) that covers aviation and tourism affairs, awarded the "Tourism Media Fellowship 2019" to 10 journalists at the National Press Club on September 25.

The Dhaka University Tourism Society and Tourism Student Association arranged various weeklong  programs to celebrate the day and  hotels and motels announced various offers.

In beach town Cox's Bazar, more than 700 volunteers took part in a beach cleaning program marking the day.

On the eve of the day, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages wishing success to all the programs of the day.

Since 1980, the United Nations World Tourism Organization has been celebrating World Tourism Day as an international observance on September 27. This date was chosen as on that day in 1970, the Statutes of the UNWTO were adopted.