The New Nation - Internet Edition

Mohammad Shahidul Islam

Bangladesh is a country with a colorful cultural legacy and rich in archaeological wealth- dating back to the Muslim and pre-Muslim period when Hindu and Buddhist rulers ruled this land which is now Bangladesh.

The rich cultural heritage of the country is yet to be projected and exploited to attract tourists. If proper efforts are made to develop cultural tourism - a new Bangladesh would emerge and will glow brighter among the countries of the world.

Most of the people in Bangladesh are not aware of our rich culture and heritage. Its importance for our national identity and existence are also overlooked. Development of tourism based on culture and heritage, can help develop image of the country as well as make the people of our country conscious in this regard.

Before initiating heritage tourism, we need to put serious effort on conservation of heritage sites. If we take initiatives to conserve our heritage, it will bring numerous benefits to the nation. In addition to creating new jobs, new businesses and higher property values, well-managed tourism will help improve the quality of life.

Of course, we are to ensure that tourism does not destroy the very heritage that attracts visitors in the first place. Furthermore, tourism is a competitive, sophisticated, fast-changing industry that presents its own challenges. Heritage tourism is a resource-based industry and one that can be a sustainable industry, though it does put demands on the infrastructure- on roads, airport, water supplies, and public services like police and fire brigade.

For promoting successful heritage tourism, we need to form an experts' committee to conserve heritage sites. The committee should make some immediate recommendations which be forwarded to the concerned authorities.

Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, the national tourism organisation, must be also involved in the process. The recommendations may be:

A wide-ranging development plan for heritage sites should be programmed.

Development plans must look for the suggestions and guidance of heritage experts, social scientists and environmental experts.

Participation of local people of respective heritage site should be ensured in the scheme.

The need for deeper and broader participation and awareness building among the citizens and civil society at large should be thought of.

Publications in a variety of formats targetted at different users may include books, reports, brochures, guides, maps, and audio-visual products - have to be taken.

Identifying the need to develop human resource potential and capacity building skills, assistance of UNESCO and concerned ministries to train the personnel concerned must be considered.

The question here is no longer whether we need heritage conservation -the question is indeed how to prioritise heritage conservation as an important aspect of a country's overall development including tourism, and to set up an appropriate framework for its integration and implementation within existing systems of development and management.

Let us look why most of people in the country are not aware of heritage tourism. First one cannot encounter this word in their books throughout his or her education and second the word tourism itself is not explored nationally. The cliché "Bangladesh is a land of rivers/birds" should not go singly rather it should be associated with " Bangladesh is a land of tourism."

It is only a single word that is enough to identify the whole nation's vivid past. It embodies the core of a country from past to present, from north to south, from east to west. The recent good news of Dr. Muhammad Yunus winning Nobel Peace Prize has made us really easy to get identified by others as Bangladeshi.

We can now proudly raise our head in the world. Heritage tourism can be also another such means for Bangladesh to raise its image across the globe.