Achieving Bangladesh's tourism potential: Linkages to export diversification, employment generation and the "green economy"

Arbeitspapier

Bangladesh's international image is not as a popular tourism destination, and many people might be surprised to learn it has three World Heritage sites, including the Sundarbans tiger reserves. Moreover, it is part of important travel circuits for cultural and religious tourism, and has demonstrated potential for sports tourism. The objective of this working paper is to critically test the assertion that pro-poor "green" tourism is one of the best development options for the majority of least developed countries (LDCs) - a challenging task in Bangladesh in the face of the country's success as an exporter of readymade garments - by comparing tourism to the available alternatives with regard to the crucial government priorities of export diversification, employment generation and the "green economy". It is well-known that Bangladesh is under strong pressure to diversify its exports, to generate new employment (especially in rural areas), and to respond to critical environmental issues. The government has identified over 30 "thrust sectors" (including tourism) to help address these challenges, but otherwise tourism is rarely mentioned as a major trade and development option for Bangladesh. Within the limitations of data availability, this working paper reaches the conclusion that greater efforts to develop "green" tourism would be highly beneficial for facilitating rural development, environmental and cultural protection, gender equality, and export diversification in services. The most obvious current impediments are inadequate infrastructure, lack of investment and (typically election year) political conflict, but behind these factors appear to be a serious lack of stakeholder coordination, insufficient regulatory and administrative transparency and coherence, as well as some government reluctance to relinquish greater commercial autonomy in tourism to the private sector. This paper offers extensive analysis and some suggestions to help address the impediments, including the recommendation to create a Bangladesh Tourism Stakeholders Forum.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: WTO Staff Working Paper ; No. ERSD-2014-15

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations ; Trade and Environment ; Economic Impacts of Globalization: Economic Development ; National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: Infrastructures; Other Public Investment and Capital Stock ; Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism; Secession ; Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs ; Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination ; Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Industrial Policy; Sectoral Planning Methods ; Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism ; Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology ; Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration ; International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations ; Development Planning and Policy: Trade Policy; Factor Movement; Foreign Exchange Policy ; Other Economic Systems: International Trade, Finance, Investment and Aid ; Recreational Aspects of Natural Resources ; Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming ; Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
• Subject: Bangladesh ; LDCs ; Export Diversification ; Spatial Diversification ; Rural Development ; Comparative Advantage ; Employment Generation ; Green Economy ; Green Tourism ; Pro-poor Tourism ; Tourism Linkages ; Cluster Analysis ; Value Chain Analysis ; Poverty Alleviation ; MDGs ; Gender Issues ; FDI ; GATS ; Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA) ; Rio+20

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Honeck, Dale ; Akhtar, Md. Shoaib
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): World Trade Organization (WTO)
• (where): Geneva
• (when): 2014

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.30875/9ee5c8d6-en
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/104756
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET