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Despite having diverse natural environment and scenic places as well as many resorts and tourist spots, tourism in Sylhet region cannot fully flourish because of absence of proper infrastructural facilities and easy communication system.

Tourism-related business personalities of Sylhet urged the government to come up with urgent projects to build up sustainable infrastructural facilities and better communication system and focus on the needs of tourists. 

Government extended its allout support to tourist spots in Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar region, but remained indifferent to nurturing the growing potentialities of tourism in Sylhert region, said Naser Rahman, a leading tourism entrepreneur and political personality of the region.

In particular, it is very crucial to strengthen the security of visitors, construct adequate number of quality wash blocks at all tourist spots and provide with tourism-oriented entertainment facilities, said Naser, son of former finance minister late Saifur Rahman.

With the development of tourism industry, employment opportunity can be created side by side with the enhancement of revenue, he commented.

¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· talked to Naser Rahman, owner of DuSai Resort and Spa, a quality tourist resort situated along Shrimangal Raod in Moulvibazar, about the prospects and dilemmas of tourism industry in Moulvibazar as well as in the Sylhet division.

His spontaneous conversation brought out the overall scenario of the tourism sector in Sylhet region, its prospective and limitation. Along with Moulvibazar and Sylhet, he also talked about the overall tourism industry of the country, which could be helpful for further improvement of the sector.

Naser Rahman said that Sylhet division, the northeastern part of Bangladesh, is an ideal place for tourists because of its attractive natural landscape consisting diverse forests, hills, plain land and haors.

In 2008, the then caretaker government had recognized only two places of the country as tourist spots and these are Cox’s Bazar and Moulvibazar.

The previous government upgraded the Cox’s Bazar Airport to an international airport,

Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar Road to a national highway, constructed a fresh rail route and Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive Road, which the tourists enjoy much. ‘But, nothing has been done in Moulvibazar to attract tourists,’ Naser Rahman lamented.

‘Work is underway now to turn the Dhaka-Sylhet highway into six-lane. It’s a good initiative. Tourists could reach Moulvibazar within 3 hours and Sylhet in three and a half hours or 4 hours from Dhaka after completion of the ongoing project,’ he commented.

Another disappointing issue is the consistent crisis of train tickets as the online ticketing system has not actually benefited the travelers, he said demanding immediate step to increase the train compartments.  

He said that the inter-city trains run on Dhaka-Sylhet and Chattogram-Sylhet routes do not have any air-conditioned coach for Moulvibazar. After a longstanding demand, recently a decision has been taken to allocate only one AC coach for Moulvibazar.

‘In this perspective, I have requested the interim government’s railway affair adviser to launch a tourist dedicated train to operate only between Shrimangal and Dhaka. Because, Shrimangal is the main tourism hub of Moulvibazar as train journey is cost-effective.

It, however, does not need any additional infrastructure, just a few AC coaches and sleeping berths would be sufficient. Because visitors do not want to travel by normal coach in summer, Naser Rahman commented.

Moreover, an airport is also needed if we want to develop Moulibazar as a popular tourist destination, he added. There is an Air Force Base here in Shamsher Nagar near the Moulvibazar twon. Civil aviation also had operated flights here during the Pakistan period. The Air Force Base was operative even after the War of Independence as well. Later, it abandoned in 1973, he stated.

‘following my proposal in this regard, civil aviation ministry already decided to make it operative again,’ Naser Rahman said, adding that they did not want an international airport like Cox’s Bazar, rather a small domestic airport will be sufficient.

Responding to a query, he said that not only the India, Thailand is also rejecting now the visa applications of outbound tourists of Bangladesh. Cashing in the situation, tourist spots of Sylhet region recently experienced a huge crowd of visitors. All resorts, quality hotels, motels and guesthouses were packed with tourists during the vacation of Eid-ul-Azha this year.

‘Eighty rooms of DuSai Resort were house full till June 14, the last day of the 10-day Eid holiday,’ he said, adding that it was a good sign for the tourism-oriented businesses.

Naser Rahman, however, observed that developing foreigner-oriented tourism in Bangladesh is very tough. Foreign tourists visit five countries out the seven South Asia countries, except Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Foreign tourists need entertainment along with sightseeing. After a whole day of touring, what is there for them to do at night? Most hotels of our country do not have a bar license because getting a license requires to offer bribe and face many hassles, Naser Rahman alleged.

Various entertaining events like traditional music and dance shows as well as concert can be arranged for a certain period in our local cultural institutions like Shilpakala Academy. We can hold a two-hour programme every evening in the academy for tourists and that would be amazing to the foreigners, he continued. 

Changing mindset also matters a lot in our society. Cause, only constructing a building and arranging some furniture is not sufficient to establish a quality resort. It needs some other aspects to make it attractive and enjoyable atmosphere for the foreign tourists.

There is no shortage of hotels in the Cox’s Bazar, but the number of standard hotels is very few. So we have to move in a planned way to develop scopes of quality entertainments to attract foreign tourists, he added.

‘Cox’s Bazar has the longest sea beach in the globe, it is a positive aspect. But steps have to be taken to make the environment there safer and more comfortable for foreigners’ movement,’ Naser Rahman commented.

Apart from these, he emphasised the importance of marketing globally the tourism industry of Bangladesh. He said foreign tourists need to be informed that why they should come to Bangladesh?

‘If we can overcome these shortcomings, I’m hopeful, Moulvibazar, Sylhet and Cox’s Bazar will one day become popular as gorgeous tourist destinations in the world,’ he added.