Dhaka for more regional co-op to promote tourism

KOLKATA, Feb 21: State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin on Monday said more cooperation and concerted efforts of BIMSTEC countries are needed for achieving the goals of tourism in the region, reports BSS. He said this while addressing a workshop of the tourism ministers and travel and tourism industry representatives of BIMSTEC countries here. The workshop, first of its kind, would beckon a great prospect for BIMSTEC member countries to bolster their ties and explore potentials of tourism, he said. “It is a great desire of us and an urgent need of current global phenomenon of tourism,” he added. Referring to the unique feature of BIMSTEC, he said the group has established a bridge between South and South East Asia to enable the member states to forge integration.He said the region has numerous places of tourist attractions and through proper coordination and targeted promotional campaign BIMSTEC states would be able to capture the attention of major tourist generating markets. Mir Nasir also observed that there was a tremendous potential of promoting Buddhist Circuit Tourism among the member countries of BIMSTEC, including Bangladesh. Buddhist Circuit Tourism covering potential tourist attractions for the member countries should be developed as well as possible, he said. “The Buddhist Circuit Tourism would bring momentum in eco-tourism along with spiritual tourism in the days to come,” he said. Indian Minister of State for Tourism Renuka Chowdhury, tourism ministers of Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and high commissioner of Sri Lanka to India and Tourism Minister of West Bengal Dinesh Dakua attended the workshop.