Bangladesh is fast emerging as an alluring tourist spot on the global map. It is a land of diverse attractions, bountiful nature and friendly millions of people with more than a millennium of cultural heritage.

Bangladesh is a magical tapestry woven with the threads of hope, struggle and love. Its long meandering rivers and waterways are like motions of a life, vibrant and alive taking and returning, living and being loved. The land is the frame, which holds the tapestry together, and the people are the colors, which make it so enchanting history and legends are in timely interwoven with the landmass together with its distinct traditions and cultural traits.

Bangladesh beckoned travelers from far and near through ages.

In recent times, with the gradual development of infrastructure facilities and increasing exposition. Tourist attractions are widely spread throughout the country.

Bangladesh has a host of tourist treasures to offer to international tourists — beaches, lakes, rivers, hills, forests, wildlife, way of life, tribal life, archaeological remains, including historical monuments, folklore, religious and cultural heritage, handicrafts and much more.

Cox’s Bazar: Miles of golden sands, towering cliffs, surfing waves, rare conch shells, colorful pagodas, delightful sea food — this is Cox’s Bazar, the tourist capital of Bangladesh. Here the world’s longest unbroken smooth straight shark free 120 km long clean sandy beach slopes gently down to the blue waters of the Bay of Bengal against the picturesque background of a chain of hills covered with deep green forests. The beach is good for bathing, sunbathing and swimming.

The breath taking beauty of the golden sun setting behind the waves of the sea is captivating. Attractive local variety of cigars and handloom products of the Rakhyne tribal families are good buys. Their unique customs and costumes attract visitors.

Cox’s Bazar tourist resort has a mine hole Golf course in addition to varied other tourist facilities. Visits to the fascinating spots at Inani, Himchari, Teknaf, southern most tip of Bangladesh, Buddhist temple at Ramu and nearby islands of Sonadia, Moheshkhali and coral island St. Martin are memorable experience of a lifetime.

Kuakata: It is the only beach in Asia where one can enjoy both clear sunrise and the sunset in their entire majestic splendor. Kuakata in Patuakhali district is one of the few tourist spots in Bangladesh where nature survives in pristine, unspoiled grace.

With its unspoiled vast sea shore along groves of coconut trees, colorful Rakhyne tribal life, Shima Temple having 70 feet high statue of Buddha, the highest in Asia, thousands of varieties of fish and the holy yearly Hindu Rush festival are added attractions in Kuakata for the visitors.

Eco-Tourism Spots:

Sundarbans: Bangladesh owns the largest mangrove on earth, the Sundarbans — the home of the majestic Royal Bengal Tiger. About 6,000 sq. km. of deltaic swamps along the coastal belt of Khulna, the Sundarbans is also the natural habitat of spotted deer, crocodiles, monkeys, cheetahs, pythons, wild boars, hyenas and different species of colorful birds making it a paradise for the eco-tourist.

Hiron point, Katka and Dublar Char are the main tourist spots where the visitors may have glimpses of the wildlife and also the simple life and living of fishermen, bawalis and other working professionals in the forest.

The Sundarbans is really a place of the mystery of nature. This wildlife sanctuary is a declared World Heritage Site of UNESCO.

Among other tourist attractions nearly is Khan Jahan Ali’s 60 domed ancient mosque built is 1459 AD and his mausoleum. UNESCO has enlisted it as World Heritage Site.

Hill Tract Districts:

The three hill districts of Rangamati, Banderban and Khagrachari are inhabited by number of distinctive enterprising tribes like the Chakmas, the Tripuras, the Murang and the Marmas — all preserving their age old cultures, colorful rituals, dances and music.

Here the glistening greenery sits on the purple hills around lakes-manmade and natural.

Ranizamati is the most favorite holiday resort in the Hill tracts known for its windings hills, colorful climate and enchanting beauty as well as for its colorful tribal life. The hanging bridge over Kaptai Lake, the largest manmade lake in Asia (255 sq. km.), tribal handicraft factory and sales center, ivory jewelry, tribal museum, fishing, cruising and water skiing are its prime attractions.

Other places of rare beauty in the Hill Tracts include Kaptai, Suvalong, Chandraghona, Khagrachari, Matiranga, Banderban and Chimbuk.

Sylhet: In the vibrating Surma valley, the scenic tea plantations of greater Sylhet district are the main attractions for all tourists. Its terraced tea gardens eye soothing orange groves, pineapple plantations and hills covered with tropical forest form beautiful landscape.

Sylhet, the tea granary of Bangladesh, not only has over 150 tea gardens but also proudly possesses the three largest tea gardens in the world. The Sylhet Valley has a good number of places that provide sanctuary to the millions of migratory birds from Siberia across the Himalayas to avoid serve cold. The only waterfalls of the country at Madhabkunda, and Jaflong are other scenic spots of the area. Colorful Monipuri, Khasia, and Garo tribes live in Sylhet. Monipuri tribal dance is world famous.

Rivers:

Bangladesh is a riverine country. It is crisscrossed by the Word’s three mighty river systems viz. Padma, Meghna, Jamuna and their innumerable tributaries. The network of the river system with hundreds of busy village markets, vast green fields, river ports, fishing, cruising, plying of colorful country boats, periodic melas (fairs) held every year on the bank of such rivers are the recreational riverine tourism attractions enjoyed by the tourists.

Historical and Archaeological Sites:

There are monuments dating back to 3d century BC at sites like Mahasthangar, Paharpur and Mainamatai which are of enormous interest to archaeologists, historical enthusiasts and cultural & educational tourists alike.

Dhaka has a number of buildings from the Mughal and British periods, and has national museum of rich collection Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka commemorates the sacred memory of the martyrs of the historic Language Movement of 1952. It is the symbol of the Bangladeshi nationalism. The seed of independence was sown in this movement and it was the source of inspiration of all subsequent movements leading to the heroic liberation war of Bangladesh. The day is being observed as the National Martyr’s Day and the UTNESCO has declared it as the International Mother Language Day.

Tourism industry in our neighboring countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and India is given priority under state-patronage. It is one of the chief sources of earning foreign exchange and employment generation for many countries. Remarkable growth and development of tourism has taken place in countries with similar socio-religious environment such as Malaysia and Indonesia. Compared to them, Bangladesh is far behind.

Bangladesh can earn more foreign exchange and create employment opportunities for more people if appropriate domestic and foreign investments are made and necessary infrastructure facilities are built. Consequently the tourism sector may make a worthy contribution to poverty alleviation and socioeconomic welfare of the country.

Present government of Bangladesh is giving priority and importance to the tourism sector. As a result, the government in its latest industrial policy has listed tourism as a thrust sector. Investment by local and foreign investors can act as catalyst to develop and promote tourism as an industry in the country. It would help develop the socioeconomic condition of the local people through more new employment generation and further economic activities to eliminate poverty from our country.

The structure of the tourism sector in Bangladesh is predominantly managed by a public sector. Government involvement in the tourism sector is channeled through Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC), the National Tourism Organization (NTO) which is responsible for the development, promotion, regulation and operation of tourism activities. It was established in the year 1972 with the dual responsibility of development and promotion of tourism in the country and commenced business as a Corporation in January 1973. As a semi-autonomous organization it provides tourism facilities to construct and run hotels, restaurants, operate Duty Free Shops (DFS), transportation and car rental, establish and run tourism training institution. The NTO is primarily a tourism service provider and promoter of tourism product. Bangladesh government has taken necessary measures to encourage the private sector to play positive role in the development and diversification of tourist facilities to promote domestic and international tourism in the country.

It has declared a National Tourism Policy, recognized tourism as an industry and a thrust sector in the latest industrial policy and is taking appropriate measures to offer incentives to both the local and foreign investors.

A National Tourism Council has been set up. In the meantime, a Strategic Master Plan for Tourism for the country has been prepared by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) with the assistance of UNDP.

This comprehensive tourism plan has identified our major potential tourist products and types of tourist facilities to be developed in the country. Recently, the government has taken the initiative to revise and update the Master Plan with the help of international technical assistance for the purpose.

The government had decided to setup and develop Special Tourist Zones (STZ) at different potential places of the country to cater to the needs and demands of the foreign tourists. These include Cox’s Bazar, Sundarbans and Kuakata. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) comprising three districts: Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban will also be developed as a Tourists Zone.