Yesterday, officials from Malaysia said that the country has seen a rise in the number of Bangladeshi tourists whereas Nepal has seen a fall in the same statistic. On the other hand, the crash of the US-Bangla airlines in Kathmandu in 2017 resulted in a significant loss of tourism for the Himalayan nation, with arrivals dropping by more than 10 percent in 2018 compared to the previous year. According to Mohammed Shoeb, the marketing manager of Tourism Malaysia, “Access to flights, easy visa processing, and religious feelings are the key attractions for Bangladeshi travellers opting to visit Malaysia.” “Access to flights,” “easy visa processing,” and “religious sentiments”
According to the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, the number of Bangladeshi visitors who visited Malaysia increased to 154,000 in 2018, up from 111,000 the previous year. Shoeb shared the following with The Daily Star on the final day of the “Novoair Dhaka Travel Mart 2019”: “We came here to promote Malaysia’s tourism sector, inform travellers of new destinations, and attract visitors for availing themselves of healthcare.” The event took place at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel. Shoeb’s sentiments were mirrored by Diwakar B. Rana, a senior manager at the Nepal Tourism Board.
According to Rana, Nepal possesses attractions that are distinct from those found in the rest of the world in addition to similarities in culture, two characteristics that would prove to be essential in increasing the number of tourists. He believes that there will be an increase in the number of tourists visiting Nepal if there are more flying options. According to the Assistant Director of the Bangladesh Tourism Board, Mohibul Islam, the board has no credible statistics on outgoing tourists because they do not track such information because they do not care about it.
According to Md Jamil Fazal, business development manager of Connecting 365 Limited, which collaborates directly with the Thai Tourism Authority, the Thai embassy issues an average of 200 visas every day to citizens of Bangladesh. He went on to say that approximately 60,000 people from Bangladesh travel to Thailand each year, the most of whom are there to receive medical treatment.
The tour companies also named Dubai and Egypt, stating that these places were becoming popular destinations for Bangladeshis, which is a move from the traditional options picked in the countries that are neighbouring Bangladesh. Egypt and Dubai are both in the Middle East.
According to a senior executive at Mountain Club Tours, the company operates at least 120 vacation packages to Dubai each month, and roughly 70 of those vacation packages are to Egypt. According to the people who organised the event, a total of 41 companies and organisations from seven different nations, including Bangladesh and Indonesia, displayed their goods and services at the fair. These companies and organisations included travel agencies, airlines, tour operators, hotels, resorts, online booking portals, and healthcare service providers.
As a partner country, Nepal is now participating in the expo.
Reference:
Chakma, Jagaran. “Malaysia a Top Country for Bangladeshi Tourists.” The Daily Star, 24 Mar. 2019, https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/malaysia-top-country-bangladeshi-tourists-1719592.
Image Courtesy:
https://m.daily-bangladesh.com/english/Malaysia-opens-labor-market-for-Bangladeshis/66785
