Bangladesh Tourism festival kicks off on Wednesday

A four-day "Bangladesh Festival", designed to shine a spotlight on the nation's tourism products, services and delectable cuisine, is set to kick off on Wednesday (27 September) in Dhaka, marking World Tourism Day.

Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) will host the event at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center in the capital's Agargaon area, civil aviation and tourism ministry secretary Md Mokammel Hossain, said at a press conference on Monday (25 September) at a city hotel.

More than 160 organisations including 20 hotel resorts, 70 regional food stalls, 29 districts under district branding, 26 craft souvenirs, 2 airlines, amusement parks, travel agents, tour operators, tour guides, foreign embassies are participating in the Bangladesh Festival.

There will be more than 70 traditional food stalls from 64 districts of Bangladesh.

In this festival, the process of making looms and jamdani will be seen. The story of the recovery of our heritage muslin and the process of muslin making will be displayed, according to the tourism board.

"We are planning to organise this kind of event regularly every year to celebrate World Tourism Day. This festival will be a platform for getting to know all the tourist attractions of Bangladesh will be created," said Mokammel Hossain.

"Bangladesh Festival will help the visitors to make their interesting tour plans. Besides, it will generate enthusiasm among tourism stakeholders, speed up the post-Covid tourism recovery and play a vital role in the tourism industry," he added.

The four-day long cultural programme will include Gambhira, regional songs of Sylhet, Gazi Kalur Pot, Patha Natya, Baul Song, Puthi Path, Kawali and song arrangement by eminent artistes etc.

Also, there will be a special event on tourism beauty pageant on the fourth day of the Bangladesh Festival (30 September).

Seminars will be held on tourist and tourist center safety, accommodation, aviation, employment opportunities in the tourism sector and women's participation in the tourism industry, archeology, food tourism, tourism and aviation journalism, plastic free St. Martin etc.

Abu Tahir Muhammad Zaber, CEO of BTB said, "The festival will help to attract more foreign tourists in Bangladesh as we are engaging all concerned stakeholders."

Speaker of Jatiya Sangshad Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will inaugurate the festival at Bangabandhu International Conference Center on 27 September at 11 am.

Title Sponsor will be Mutual Trust Bank.

World Tourism Day 2023, themed "Tourism and Green Investment", will be celebrated globally on 27 September and Bangladesh will also observe the day.