Report: A study on tourism industry of Bangladesh The objectives of the study have emerged from the research problems

identified e arlier. The main thrust of this study has concentrated on the issues relevant to the development of tourism industry in Bangladesh. However, the details of the objectives of this study are summarizing the nature and categories of tourist at tractions in Bangladesh, presenting the tourist facilities available in the coun try, evaluating the role of some tourism organizations operating in the country, measuring the performance of world tourism sector as well as the performance of Bangladesh tourism industry, measuring the satisfaction of visiting tourists on of different tourism services available in Bangladesh, identifying the constrai nts to the development of tourism and prescribe necessary suggestions for reform s and improvements of the tourism industry in Bangladesh and forecasting and hig hlight the potentials of tourism development in the country. 1.1. Preamble Tourism is one of the initiators of people's movement, a facilitator for exchang e of knowledge, a provider of pleasure, a way to enjoy leisure, and a means to e nrich culture. There was a time when only the elite classes had the time and mon ey to enjoy travelling. Especially before fifties of the twentieth century, trav el was the privilege of a few rich, affluent, and perhaps adventurous people. Th ings have since changed much. "Today, the rise in the standard of living of peop le in several developed and developing countries along with the fast technologic al revolution in transport industry has brought overseas holiday within the reac h of middle and even working class. Besides, the emergence of cheap holiday thro ugh non-scheduled carriers has brought about a major revolution in the concept o f holiday package. (Naik, 1977)". Thus, the concept of tourism has now acquired a wider significance among the mass people.

People are prone to fun and enjoyment. Being curious, they always want to get th e flavour of unseen and unknown for pleasure. Their inherent attraction for the enjoyment of natural beauty and diverse civilization motivate them to discoverie s and inventions through extensive travelling. They also intend to gather new ex perience from new things and new places, get lasting pleasure, and know differen t unknown cultures through visiting destinations. Besides, tourism is a leisure activity to relief oneself from the stress of daily routine-life. People get dep ressed of their monotonous workloads and want to escape from the pressures of wo rk-deadlines, avoid crowd city life, break traditional daily life, and thus enjo y some time in a new place having natural and cultural significance. A new place can relieve the monotony of one's existence and -fijl one mind with joy (Haq 20 01). For this a large number of people is now moving from one place to another, from one country to other countries, from one end of the world to another, and m ay be in future, from one planet to other ones (Hossain, 1999). Thus tourism and the resultant movement of people are booming globally. Today, the tourism industry is recognized as the single largest industry in the world. As such tourism has become the largest trade sector in the world and this sector has been recognized as a major thrust area of economic and business acti vities in most of the destination countries. It has shown a tremendous growth du ring the past four decades. For most of the destination countries, tourism has b ecome an emerging sector. They are now earning larger portion of their national income from tourism. For this, many destination countries have developed necessa ry tourism-infrastructure and arranged necessary facilities to fed the tourists and thus reap the potential benefit from tourism activities. Their utmost effort s are yet on to attract increased number of tourists. The impact of modern technology and the resultant introduction of speedy and com paratively cheap air transport have made it possible for the tourism industry to

1.2. The Research Problem By today, tourism has become the largest industry and trade sector in the world generating enough employment opportunities and earning huge amount of foreign ex change for the destination countries. It has created multifaceted impact on peop le's pleasure, knowledge, overall standard of living, and culture of both the de stination and tourist generating countries. Many of the destination countries ha ve marched forward to reap the full potentials of this industry. But Bangladesh is lagging far behind in the growth and development of its tourism industry. Thr ough the country has got many rare attractions substantially different from thos e of other destination countries, its tourism industry is yet at the primitive s tage and has not taken the shape of an industry. The government of Bangladesh, however, has already taken some measures for the d evelopment of this industry. But many of those are of very primary nature and ha ve created little impact on the growth and development of this industry. Therefo re, it is necessary to uncover the reasons of the backwardness of this industry and identify the loopholes of the present policy measures and thus suggest effec tive courses of actions to be undertaken by the government and other concerned a gencies. 1.3. Objectives of the Study The objectives of the study have emerged from the research problems identified e arlier. The main thrust of this study has concentrated on the issues relevant to the development of tourism industry in Bangladesh. However, the details of the objectives of this study are as under: i) To summarize the nature and categories of tourist attractions in Bangladesh; ii) To present the tourist facilities available in the country; iii) To evaluate the role of some tourism organizations operating in the country ; iv) To measure the performance of world tourism sector as well as the performanc e of Bangladesh tourism industry; v) To measure the satisfaction of visiting tourists on of different tourism serv ices available in Bangladesh; vi) To identify the constraints to the development of tourism and prescribe nece ssary Suggestions for reforms and improvements of the tourism industry in Bangladesh; and vii) To forecast and highlight the potentials of tourism development in the coun try. 1.4. Literature Review A substantial number of works on tourism as a subject has been done throughout t he world. But a relatively few works and literatures on the development of touri

sm worldwide have been found as yet. Similarly, enough literatures on the same a rea of tourism industry in Bangladesh are not available. However, a few articles and research reports addressing the marketing issues and dealing with the probl ems of the tourism industry in a skin-deep manner have been available to the res earcher. As a consequence, literatures reviewed for this study include only a ha ndful of papers and the few research reports. These are summarized as under: 1.5. The Research Gap The literatures reviewed earlier section clearly indicates that there has been a considerable expansion of tourism activities worldwide. It is understood that a relatively little attention has been given by the professionals and researchers to the issues of tourism development. Therefore, the study on the development o f tourism industry has been largely unexplored. As such, literatures on tourism development throughout the world are not enough. Bangladesh tourism industry, being at its infant stage, is of no exception from this. No comprehensive literature covering the same area has yet been available to the present researchers. Researchers in Bangladesh also do not seem to have m uch attention to the studies on the development of tourism industry. Therefore, no comprehensive and worthy paper, research monograph, or research report on thi s issue of tourism industry in Bangladesh has yet come out. The very few literat ures available in Bangladesh have tired to suggest the ways and means in the pre sent context of the country for the development of the industry. These existing literatures on Bangladesh tourism are also with inadequate justification and ski n-deep analysis. Therefore, these offer little help in developing a framework fo r further studies by the researchers. As a result, Bangladesh tourism industry h as failed to attract a sizeable number of foreign tourists, motivate them to sta y longer, obtain better performance of the industry, and thus ensure sustained g rowth and development of the industry. 1.6. Justification of the Study Through the country has bright prospects to develop a strong tourism industry ba sed on natural, cultural, ecological and historical attractions it is yet aorist ically undiscovered and unexplored. Therefore, the concerned authority should id entify the reasons for the backwardness of such a potential sector and take appr opriate measures to overcome the problems faced by the industry. For this a comp rehensive study like the present one seems to be the right attempt in the presen t context. According to Gilbert (Undated: 164), research is an important aid to feedback an d decision making. Its importance lies on the knowing of the relevant facts, for mulating strategies on the basis of those facts, and bringing about success in t he operation of the industry concerned. In the case of the tourism industry in B angladesh, these decisions include the identification of the problems faced by t he industry and taking necessary corrective measures to direct the industry towa rds its growth and development. As Bangladesh tourism lags behind in its growth and development and in attractin g a significant number of tourists to visit its destinations, the situation ther efore calls for the identification of the causes and formulation of policy and s trategy measures. The findings. of the present study may be of immense help in t hese contexts. As there has been no major study covering this area, it is expect ed that this study will provide sufficient information on the tourism in Banglad esh, Besides, policy makers, service providers, and academicians will also be be nefited from a study like this. Furthermore, having tourism sector of Bangladesh much potential this area lends itself to a systematic and structured study. Fin ally as an emerging research area, this study will provide additional knowledge and literature to the existing ones, and generate interest or thinking for furth

er research on other issues of the tourism industry in Bangladesh. Research Methods This chapter describes the research methods followed in this study. The research methods to follow depend on the problems identified, objectives set and proposi tions/ hypothesis drawn for the study. However, the details of research methods followed in solving the research problem, achieving the objectives, and assessin g the research propositions have been described below. With these ends in view, this chapter has covered the contents such as nature of the study, scope of the study, theoretical propositions, population, sample size, sample selection proce dure, and questionnaire preparation. This chapter has also presented sections on pilot survey for questionnaire pre-test, field survey and investigation for pri mary data collection, sources of secondary data, verification of filled in quest ionnaires, tabulation, data analysis and interpretation techniques, organization al framework of the report, and limitations of the study. 2.1. Nature of the Study (In the present study it has not been able to accumulate enough secondary inform ation as there is very little by way of literatures. As such, it has not been po ssible to draw any precise hypothesis regarding the problem under study. Since e xisting research on the development of the tourism industry in Bangladesh is not adequate, the nature of this study has to be exploratory rather than testing an y hypothesis. An exploratory study aims to gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it, often conducted to formulate a more research p roblem or to develop hypothesis/(Seltiz and Cook, 1962) By definition, an explor atory research involves investigation of problems on which little formal knowled ge is available (Rahman, 1997). Being the nature of this study an exploratory on e and using descriptive statistical tools rather than inferential statistical on es, the present study is both a theoretical as well as an empirical one. 2.2. Scope of the Study The scope of the study extends to the following aspects: A. Coverage of the Study: (The study has attempted to cover eight main areas. These include the study of ( i) nature. and categories of tourist attractions in Bangladesh; (ii) tourism fac ilities in Bangladesh; (iii) tourism organizations in Bangladesh; (iv) tourism p erformance; (v) tourists' satisfaction on Bangladesh tourism arrangements; (vi) constraints to the development of tourism industry in Bangladesh; (vii) suggesti ons for reforms and improvements; and (viii) potentials of tourism development i n Bangladesh. The study has attempted both micro and macro level analyses. At th e micro level, activities of different tourism firms operating in the country ha ve been analyzed. In the macro level analyses, the overall performance of the in dustry has been measured. B. Survey Area Coverage: The overall tourism attractions and facilities available in the country have be en considered and the whole of Bangladesh is the survey area of this study. In t he case of measurement of tourists' satisfaction, tourists visiting any part of the country have been considered to include in the sample. C. Study Period: The field survey has been conducted and the field level data have been collected during the months from November to February, which are the peak tourism seasons in Bangladesh. Data collected for this study have been tabulated during the mon th of March 2005. The preparation of the report, editing, and finalizing touch h ave been done during the period from August' 05 March' 06. Finally, the report h

as been typed during the month of April 2006. D. Samples Included: The research problem along with its objectives and propositions indicate that da ta should be collected from those firms and parties who are directly or indirect ly involved in the business activities of Bangladesh tourism industry, developme nt process of tourism infrastructure or facilities in the country, and interacti on process of rendering or receiving tourism services. As such, the scope of dif ferent categories of samples taken for this study is limited to the following: i. Tourism Firms: Six types of tourism firms have been examined in this study. These include BPC, Private Tour operators, Airlines, Travel Agencies, Hotels, and Restaurants. Thes e firms are the major role players in the development and business activities of the tourism industry! Hotels and restaurants have been studied as they play imp ortant roles to serve tourist guests and in adopting tour operators' services, a nd thus accelerating the development of tourism activities in Bangladesh. ii. Tourists: The study has included the domestic tourists. It has also chosen t he foreign tourists visiting Bangladesh and foreign residents who have visited d ifferent destinations of the country. It has basically confined itself to the st udy of tourists' perceptions on different service arrangements of the tourism in dustry;..irt Bangladesh. iii. Experts: Academicians, professional guides, travel and tourism writers, re tired executives of different tourism firms have also been considered and includ ed in the sample. They have been interviewed for opinion and judgment based info rmation. 3. Theoretical Propositions or Research Questions of the Study It has already been mentioned that enough research-based literatures on the pres ent area of the tourism industry in Bangladesh are not available. Therefore/it h as not been possible to draw any precise hypothesis regarding the problem under study. Nevertheless, on the basis of the survey of available literatures and exp ert opinion, the researchers have attempted to draw some theoretical proposition s and have verified/ evaluated those in light of the analysis of findings. These broad propositions are related to the key issues of the research problem and ha ve been developed to achieve the objectives of the study. These propositions alo ng with the scope of the study have defined the extent and coverage of the study and guided the researchers in choosing necessary data to be collected. Finally, the researchers have put forwarded those propositions for policy and managerial implications. However, the propositions drawn for this study include the follow ing: A. Bangladesh tourism industry has not been able to provide necessary tourism in frastructure and facilities for tourists. B. Adequate number of tourism is not available in the country and the existing f irms are not yet fully equipped with necessary manpower, technology and faciliti es. C. The overall performance of the tourism industry in Bangladesh is poor. D. The measures undertaken by the government are modest in nature and much need to be done for the development of the industry. E. Bangladesh can expect to beco me an important visiting destination by adopting effective and practical strateg ies in the context of the findings of this study. 2.4. Population

Eight categories of population have been set based on the objectives and scope o f the study. These are (i) executives of the BPC, (ii) owners of private tour op erators (TOAB members), (Hi) tourists visiting the country, (iv) executives of t he airlines, (v) owners of travel agencies, (vi) hotel receptionists, (vii) rest aurants managers, and (viii) experts! J The first category consists of currently employed executives of the BPC. An up to date TOAB (Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh) members' list consisting of names and addresses of 32 firms has b een used as the base of population for the second category. Foreign tourists vis iting Bangladesh during the months from November to February constitute the popu lation for the tourist group. The size and composition of population for the tou rist category is not precisely known and their proper categorization could not b e made. The above mentioned three categories of population have been considered for questionnaire survey. The last five categories of population have been used for informal conversations. Since no up to date list of travel agencies, hotels, and restaurants operating in Bangladesh has been found, the sizes of population for these three sectors remain unknown. The expert category of population inclu des academicians, travel writers, professional guides, and ex-executives of tour ism firms. 2.5. Sample Size The foremost and important step of primary data collection is the selection of s ample from which data to collect. One of the important criteria of this selectio n is to include those tour operators who have at least five years' professional experience of dealing tours and tourists. It is mentioned earlier that the study has considered eight categories of samples. Four top executives (three director s and one general manager) of four separate divisions and 'the chairman of the B PC has constituted the sample for the first category of respondents. A total num ber of ten private tour operators have been taken in the sample of the second ca tegory of respondents. In an attempt to gauge the perceptions/attitudes of touri sts, a total number of 250 (125 domestic and 125 foreign)'tourists have been sel ected in the sample of this category. Necessary information has been collected f rom them to obtaining feedback on some selected issues of the tourism arrangemen ts in Bangladesh. Besides, eight sales executives of Biman Bangladesh Airlines a nd two sales executive of GMG airline have constituted the sample for this categ ory. For the retailers' category of respondents, a total number of twenty-five t ravel agencies have constituted the sample for this category. In addition, recep tionists of twenty five different hotels and managers of another twenty five res taurants have been included in the samples of these two categories. Finally, ten tourism experts (2 academicians, 3 travel and tourism writers, 2 professional g uides, and 3 ex-executives of tourism firms) have also been considered to collec t their opinion through informal conversations. The following table shows differ ent categories of samples and their respective sizes: It should be mentioned that out of 125 respondent foreign tourists, 12 are from India, 10 are from each of the USA, the UK, Japan and South Korea, 9 are from Ch ina, 6 are from each of Netherlands, Pakistan and Malaysia, and the rest 46 are from other source countries. Out of the 250 respondent-tourists, about 73% are m ale and 27% are female. Their ages range from 20 to 70 years. As found in the st udy, the larger segments of the respondent tourist fall in the age intervals 2029, 30-39, 40-49,........, and 50-59. 2.6. Sample Selection Procedure To assess the potentials of tourism development in Bangladesh, top executives of different tourism firms have been included in the samples. Because these people are relatively more experienced and directly or indirectly involved in providin g tourism services and other tourism related activities in Bangladesh. More spec ifically, chairman, three directors from three separate divisions and one genera

l manager from administration division have been selected from the BPC for the p urpose of interviews. Since the sample of this category has included the chairma n, the head of the organization, and other four top executives of four divisions of the BPC they have been thought to be suitable and competent to provide neces sary and available information relevant to the purpose of the study. For the tour operators' category of sample, attempt has been made to draw ten fi rms from the TOAB members' list through an unbiased lottery. For selecting the s ample respondents from thirty two tour operators, each has been given a number l ike 1, 2, 3,.....,31, and 32,, serially. These numbers have been written on 32 s eparate small pieces of white papers of the same size. Ten pieces of such papers have then been drawn through an unbiased lottery. The sample thus drawn has inc luded seven tour operators from Dhaka, two from Chittagong, and the rest one fro m Sylhet. Questionnaire Preparation: Three different sets of questionnaires have been prepared to conduct the field s urvey. All these questionnaires have sought information concerning the following issues: (a). Nature and categories of tourist attractions in Bangladesh. (b). Tourism facilities in Bangladesh. (c). Role of different tourism firms in the development of tourism in Bangladesh . (d). Performance of tourism sectors both worldwide and in Bangladesh and evaluat ion of present market size of Bangladesh tourism industry in the context of worl d-tourism market. (e). Tourists' satisfaction on Bangladesh tourism arrangements. (f). Constraints to the development of tourism industry in Bangladesh. (g). Suggestions concerning policy and managerial implications for the developme nt of tourism industry in Bangladesh, (h). Potentials of tourism development in general in Bangladesh. The questionnaire developed for the foreign tourists consists of 16 tourism-serv ice related issues on which the respondent tourists have been asked to document their response on different dimensions of seven-point rating scale. These object ive questions have attempted to collect objective data like the extent of foreig n tourists' positive and negative attitudes on different tourism arrangements/se rvices in Bangladesh. The questionnaire for the respondent tourists used-a-seven -point Likert type Scale ranging from 1 to7 to obtaining and rating their opinio n on different tourism arrangements in Bangladesh. The main reason to use this L ikert Scale is that it is relatively easier to understand. Besides, the criteria used include attempts to assess the extents or degrees associated with the issu es of the questions. For example, if the respondents are asked: "Do You Think th e Prices set by the Tour Operators in Bangladesh are Reasonable? The respondents will either say either Yes or No . Initially, the possible answers to be given by a n individual respondent are one-dimensional and must be mutually exclusive. If t he answer is 'Yes' or 'No', then the next question attempts to seek answer on th e seven-point rating scale having seven break-ups of dimensions. For a total num ber of seven dimensions three for positive, three for negative and the remaining one for neutral has been set to measure the extent of attitudes of the tourists . The above mentioned tourism-service related issues along with their dimensions and their given values are as follows:

For the very nature of the information and also of the study, some "what, why an d/or how-type" questions have been developed and posed in many cases to collect attitudinal, behavioural, value-judgement and opinion related information. As su ch, insight understanding of the researcher has to be used very carefully to exp lore the extent of information required for the concerned issue(s) of each quest ion. Expert opinions have been taken to improve all three sets of questionnaires desi gned initially. Their opinions have also been utilized to identify the key probl ems and solve those problems of the industry efficiently and effectively, and to measure the potentials of the sector under study. No formal questionnaire or in terview schedule has been used to collect information from the respondents of ai rlines, travel agencies, hotel receptionists and managers of restaurants. All three sets of questionnaires have emphasized the underlying issues to identi fy the constraints to the tourism development in Bangladesh and prescribe the po licy and managerial implications for improvement. These questionnaires especiall y attempted to highlight the potentials of tourism sector in general. Besides, c areful attempt has been made to cover all the relevant issues and thus make the questionnaire comprehensive. Survey for Questionnaire Pre-test Questionnaires have been developed independently by the researchers. Before laun ching the field survey, three-fold pilot surveys have been conducted to pre-test the questionnaires, modify the questions set, and thus finalize them. The main purposes of these pilot surveys have been to test the availability of data, exam ine the practicability of the questions, and understand about the topics to cove r for such comprehensive and exhaustive interviews. Another purpose of the pilot survey is to be acquainted with the relevant technical aspects on the subject m atter of the study. Thus these pilot surveys and pre-tests have served the purpo ses of improving the questionnaires. In the pilot survey academicians, research experts and some selected respondents have been requested to express their opinion and give necessary suggestions in connection with finalizing the questionnaires. In the first phase, the questionn aires developed earlier by the researchers have been passed on to a few senior c olleagues of the faculty of Business, Studies, and University of Dhaka. They pro vided some valuable suggestions to make those questionnaires simple and unambigu ous so that respondents can easily understand the questions set there. In the se cond phase of pilot survey, the researchers took the opportunity to" discuss wit h some research experts and make the remaining corrections. Thereafter, the pilo t survey has been conducted among some respondents. This phase of pilot survey i ncluded preliminary discussions and interviews with BPC executives, tour operato rs, and some tourists. In light of the experience gained by the pilot survey, al l three sets of questionnaires have been suitably amended. 2.9. Survey and Investigation for Primary Data Collection Data pertaining to the potentials of tourism development in Bangladesh have been collected from the five key persons engaged with BPC and ten randomly selected tour operators through in-depth personal interview with pre-designed questionnai res. In order to understand the impressions of the tourists, an in-depth face-to -face interview with 125 domestic tourists has been conducted. Another exit inte rview with another 125 foreign tourists has also been conducted at different hot el lounges and at the exit point of the departure lounge of Zia International Ai rport (ZIA). In the interview, respondents have answered some unstructured quest ions on their own and rated some other structured questions focused by the seven points on the Likert Scale discussed earlier.

Five MBA students of Dhaka University have been recruited as field-workers to vi sit the respondents' firms, offices, airport departure lounge or residential hot els, and to make all kinds of investigations for primary data collection. A oneday orientation program has been conducted for the field-workers to brief them a dequately about the topics of the study and issues of the questionnaires, and th us to teach them about the techniques to adopt in the interview process. Special attention has been given to introduce the field workers with different issues o f the subject matter of the study. Some respondent executives/owners of tourism firms have taken time to provide an swers and return the field in questionnaires. Besides, the process of identifyin g tourist respondents from different countries, occupations, ages, sexes has tak en time and thus a total of three months have been spent to complete the field s urvey. 2.10. Sources of Secondary Data The research agenda made it necessary to review the available literatures and do cuments. It should again be mentioned again that enough secondary data have not been found due to unavailability of such data. Whatever limited secondary data c ould be made available those have been incorporated effectively, logically and c arefully in this study. For this, some relevant literatures on tourism in genera l have been collected from different newspapers, magazines, journals, periodical s, internets, and research reports. Souvenirs, brochures, travel handbooks, leaf let, and folders of different tour operators have also been found useful. Other published and unpublished materials of both the government and non-government ag encies have also provided some required information. Thereafter, necessary desk research on the available literatures has been conducted and proper adjustments made in light of the purposes of this study. Through the desk research, the coll ected information have been reviewed extensively to assimilate ideas for the res earch work, synthesize necessary concepts for the theoretical framework and just ify logic of the researcher's comments. A thorough review of literature has enab led the researchers to obtaining a coherent picture of the problem considered in this study. Thus, theoretical propositions have been drawn and documented caref ully to comply with the requirements of the study. An attempt has been made to p rovide enough logical interpretations throughout the report. Relevant descriptiv e exerts have also been used to provide the literature base, justify the argumen ts and prepare the theoretical framework of the report. Thus, attempt has been made to collect sufficient primary and secondary data fro m all the above mentioned sources to define the research problem, develop a theo retical base, raise necessary arguments, justify logic, identify the constraints to the development of the tourism industry in Bangladesh, draw effective policy and managerial implications for it, and highlight potentials of tourism develop ment in Bangladesh. 2.11. Verification of Filled in Questionnaires and Tabulation of Data The researchers themselves have monitored, overseen and supervised the data coll ection activities of the field-workers. The field-workers submitted everyday the filled in questionnaires and reported about the progress and problems of data c ollection. Thereafter, the researchers have verified the questionnaires field in by the respondents and submitted by the field-workers to make sure about the co nsistency of data and completeness of the questionnaires. In the case of any pro blem, inconsistency of data, and/or any other anomaly, attempt has been made to contact with the respondents again to review those data or solve the problem or remove anomaly and thus make necessary corrections immediately. In some problem cases, the researchers themselves visited the sample firm to handle the situatio n and review the information.

After careful verification of the filled in questionnaires and necessary correct ions over there, ^a trained personnel has tabulated the collected information un der the direct supervision of the researchers. The tabulation has been done manu ally but with utmost care and sincerity. Thus, the chances of errors or mistakes are expected to be minimal. Thereafter, the tabulated data were summarized and arranged under suitable classification and analyzed according to the objectives set earlier. 2.12. Data Analysis and Interpretation There is no standard technique of data analysis for qualitative researchers, tho ugh the quantitative researchers have different standard statistical tools like standard deviation, correlation/regression analysis, factor analysis, multi-vari ant analysis, etc (Islam and Hossain, 2000). Therefore, Islam and Hossain blamed this qualitative research as problematic. Besides, the nature of the problem, t he type of the research, and the purposes of the study adhered to this specific case have made it impractical to use any advanced statistical tool. Of course, M iles and Huberman (1984) have suggested three stages of data analysis for qualit ative research such as data reduction, data display, and drawing and verifying c onclusions (In Islam and Hossain, 2000). As such, the researchers in their prese nt research have applied this approach to a greater extent. It has been mentioned earlier that the study has attempted both subjective and o bjective measurements. A combined approach of both quantitative and qualitative techniques has been appropriate to analyze and interpret the findings and draw c onclusion in light of the research problem and objectives. Thus, some descriptiv e statistical tools have been used according to the requirements and suitability of the analyses of collected data. These mainly include percentage, simple grow th rate, mean, and standard deviation. Graphical analyses of some time series da ta could be done for necessary interpretation but have been avoided as these do not add anything meaningful. The analyses also include judgements and thoughtful comments of the researchers. Potentials of tourism development in Bangladesh have been presented theoreticall y on the basis of responses given by the respondents and also on the basis of co mments and arguments available in different secondary literatures. Performance o f tourism industry in Bangladesh has been measured in light of foreign currency earned from, employment generated by, and growth achieved in this sector. Presen tation of simple mean-scores, ' calculated on the basis of responses made by the respondent tourists on a seven-point Likert Scale, also reflects the performanc es as well as tourists' satisfaction on different tourism service-arrangements i n Bangladesh. Here, the nature of questions has been structured and the response s on the scale associated with the questions have been valued as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 in order to convert the qualitative responses into quantitative forms. T hus the questionnaire designed for the respondent tourists incorporated objectiv e questions each consisting of seven dimensions,. The perception scores obtained on these objective issues have been totalled first. The total value/score thus derived from each of such questions has then been averaged to find the mean valu e/score of the issue under consideration and indicate the extent of tourists' sa tisfaction on an average on each issue separately. Thus, these mean scores have been presented to indicate the extent of tourists' satisfaction on that particul ar tourism-service in Bangladesh. Side by side, the overall mean perception-scor e has also been calculated to indicate the overall satisfaction of the tourists on the totality of tourism arrangements in Bangladesh. In some of the cases, dat a have been analyzed and interpreted through the use of conventional statistical tools like percentage, simple growth rate, and standard deviation. The standard deviation of the mean scores on different tourism issues in Bangladesh has been calculated to show the range of differences among them and thus indicate whethe r they are meaningful in a sense that they are within the acceptable limit or na

rrow range. 2.13. Organizational Framework of the Research Report The write-up of this research report has been organized in ten different chapter s. Logical sequence has been maintained in framing and organizing the report. Th e first chapter starts with presentation of the introductory discussion. With th is end, the chapter broadly includes preamble, the research problem, and objecti ves of the study, literature review, the research gap, and justification of the study. The purpose of the second chapter is to describe the research methods of the stu dy. To this end, the content of this chapter includes the nature of the study, s cope of the study, theoretical propositions of the study, population, sample siz e, sample selection procedure, questionnaire preparation, pilot survey, field su rvey and investigation for primary data collection, sources of secondary data, v erification of filled in questionnaire and tabulation of data, data analysis and interpretation, organizational framework of the research report, and limitation s of the study. Chapter three discusses the nature and categories of tourist attractions in Bang ladesh. Chapter four presents tourism facilities in Bangladesh and chapter five evaluates the role of different tourism organizations operating in Bangladesh. C hapter six attempts to measure the performance of world tourism industry as well as tourism industry in Bangladesh. This has been done in terms of tourist arriv als, earnings from tourism, and employment generation. Chapter seven measures to urists' satisfaction on different tourism service-arrangements in Bangladesh. Ch apter eight points out some constraints to the development of tourism industry a nd chapter nine prescribes necessary suggestions for policy and managerial impli cations. Chapter ten forecasts and highlights the potentials of tourism developm ent in Bangladesh. Finally, chapter eleven evaluates the propositions, presents implications, concludes with remarks, and depicts the scope for further research . 2.14 Limitations of the Study In every research project, research outcome may face some limitations. The prese nt project is of no exception from this. As such, the researchers feel that this study has also few limitations. Of course, the researchers have always been sin cere to keep the limitations at minimal. In spite of all sincere efforts, the re searchers could not control some limitations which the study may contain finally . The first and foremost among the limitations of this study could be the related with the samples selected for the study. The researchers feel that it would be b etter and representative if the size of samples, especially in the case of forei gn tourists, could be relatively larger. The present study has investigated only a total number of 250 tourists mainly due to resource constraints. Only 250 res pondent tourists out of the total inflow of about two lacs foreign tourists ever y year and another five lacs domestic tourists may or may not represent the tota l impressions of the tourists visiting different destinations in Bangladesh. Bes ides, perceptions or opinions of some purposely-selected tourists have been cons idered in this study. The findings based on these selected tourists only may, th erefore, limit to the generalization. However, the careful and cautious consider ations of secondary information and descriptive statements available in literatu res have given some insights to generalize the findings. Nevertheless, since the study has considered a small number of tourists, the conclusion with regard to the visiting behaviours, preferences of tourists, and satisfaction on Bangladesh tourism arrangements could not be thought concrete. Besides, the researcher cou ld not include some tourism firms locating outside Dhaka city in the samples and

collect information from them, though tourism firms are also (travel agencies, hotels and restaurants) operating throughout the country. Thus, the study is als o subject to location biases and market-biases with regard to samples selected. The second limitation is that some sample respondents have been found so conserv ative to respond and provide some necessary information Respondent tourists have not agreed with some issues incorporated in the questionnaire and not answered those issues under the questions. As such, it has not been possible to fully eva luate all the issues relevant to tourism development in Bangladesh and thus meas ure the entire potentials of this industry. In the case of suggestions relating to government policy measures, some of them avoided answering those questions on silly grounds. Of course, the validity and the reliability of information colle cted for this study may not pose any confusion and the authenticity of the findi ngs may not be subject to any question. The third limitation is the non-availability of literature on Bangladesh tourism . This has limited the researchers to develop any comprehensive insights into th e problem under consideration and thus draw any precise hypothesis and test it a ccordingly. The fourth limitation is related with the assessment of contribution made by the tourism sector in the economy of Bangladesh. The foreign currency income alone does not reflect the real income of the country from tourism sector, No concrete calculation procedure is there to assess the actual income from tourism sector in Bangladesh. Besides, there are some hidden expenditure of tourists and some i ncome of different tourism firms that are not properly documented and could not be taken into account. Moreover, the income of hotels, restaurants, travel agenc ies, private airline, and private tour operators could not be collected and show n due to their unwillingness to provide such data. Further, all these incomes ha ve multiplier effect on the overall economy of the country. Thus the no document ation and no availability of data have led the researcher to reflect or present a part of the total contribution of the tourism sector on the economy in Banglad esh. The fifth is with regard to the amount of fund available for conducting such an industry-based detail study. The personal source has allocated the required amou nt both for conducting the study and publication of the report. The fund provide d from personal source could not be enough for the required amount. Still, the r esearchers should acknowledge that time constraint has been another loop in comp leting such a vigorous research work. Therefore, on this ground of time cons the findings of this study could be discounted at least to some extent. Tourism is sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and s tay of non residents, in so far as they do not lead to permanent residence and a re not connected with any earning activity1. Union of official Travel Organizations (IUOTO) in 1937 and is still widely accep ted by the nations^. According to IUOTO, "The term 'tourist' shall in principle be interpreted to mean any person travelling for a period of 24 hours or more in a country other than in which he usually resides". 1.6. Objectives of this study: The present study on tourism problems and prospects in Bangladesh is mainly a de scriptive research. The main objectives of this study were to conjoin the theore tical aspects of tourism to the prevailing tourism environment of Bangladesh, an alysis of tourism inventory of Bangladesh, market and marketing strategies analy ses and putting forward some pragmatic suggestions and policy recommendations. For this purpose we have analysed first the factors that determine the demand fo

r tourism and then we have described what we have in our tourist product .invent ory that may attract the tourists to visit our country. 1. 7. Methodology of the study: For collecting information on various aspects of Bangladesh tourism we had to de pend on the secondary sources of data and information. For this purpose we went through the publications of the following organizations: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Bangladesh Purgation Corporation (BPC). Association of travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB). Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. UNDP UNESCO WTO

Besides, we interviewed the key personnel s of the BPC, ATAB, Hotel Sonargaon, Hot el Sheraton. In addition, we interviewed 50 foreign tourists, 10 Chinese restaurants and 10 t ravel agency owners, few tourism experts and other people who somehow were relat ed to tourism. The respondents had been selected purposively. Tourism in Bangladesh: A General Overview 2.1: In the course of history, this part of Indian subcontinent had always attra cted the foreigners; some times as invaders and sometimes as tourists. Bengal had always been a good destination for the international tourists. But wi th passage of time Bengal has lost its attraction as a major tourist destination and at present we could be placed no where in the list of major tourist importi ng countries of the world. 2.2. The National Tourist Organization of Bangladesh: Before liberation of Bangladesh i. e. during the then Pakistan time, there was a Department of Tourism at the centre (West Pakistan) which was responsible for p romotional and regulatory works for the development of tourism. But the task of creation of tourist facilities was left with the private sector except for some areas where private investment was inadequate or nil. Accordingly, Bangladesh Parjaton Corporation (BPC) was set up under the Presiden tial order No 143 November 27, 1972 for the "purpose of promotion, better operat ion and development of tourism in Bangladesh. 6. Development Plans of BPC: Development of tourism potential of Bangladesh requires a long term plan and an investment of high magnitude. As a part of its activities for promotion and deve lopment of tourism in Bangladesh, BPC has undertaken a few developmental plans w ithin the framework of country's national plans.