“THE PERCEPTION OF THE SWEDES ABOUT THE TOURISM OF BANGLADESH AND THE REALITY”

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Karlstad University

“THE PERCEPTION OF THE SWEDES ABOUT THE TOURISM OF BANGLADESH AND THE REALITY”

Business Administration - One-year master's thesis Course Code: FEAD 01

Karlstad Business School, Sweden.

Prepared by: Debashis Roy (831231-9695)

&

S. M. Mehedi Hasan (821115-T678)

Supervisor: Lars Haglund

Date: 2012-02-29

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all we would like to thank our honorable supervisor who has allowed us to make thesis on a very interesting topic on Bangladeshi tourism that was demanded to be explored and researched on the basis of perception and reality (facts and figure). We also would like to give a special thanks to some assisting and friendly Swedes who took part in our questionnaire spontaneously and expressed their valuable perception and opinion. Last but not the least; we are cordially grateful to the tour operators of Bangladesh who were flexible enough to provide their valuable business information we needed to accomplish the work.

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Tourism is one of the fastest growing and most lucrative service sectors in the world. The service sector does not only generate much domestic and international revenue but also increases a country’s reputation to the people of different countries of the world. Many countries’ economy is mainly based on tourism ensuring the earnings of huge foreign currencies consistently.

Tourism does not only come up with economic blessings but also a great positive impact to the environment of the host country. (WTO, 2012)

Bangladesh is a country with enormous potentials of tourism sector as the country is blessed with many naturally beautiful and archaeological sites, TOAB (2012). In addition, the country has a vast collection of wild animals, guest birds and a diversified landscape. The lush greenery surface of Bangladesh is ever appealing to domestic and international tourists. The presence of the largest mangrove forest and the longest natural sandy sea beach of the world have made Bangladesh a unique and distinguished tourist place in many aspects. The birth place of International Mother Language day, living ground of the most majestic beast of the world-Royal Bengal Tiger, availability of innumerable rivers, lakes, sea-beaches and green hillocks provide a complete package of natural beauty to the tourists of Bangladesh. Besides, a wide range of readily available street foods, fresh and juicy fruits in cheaper price makes the lives of the tourists comfortable. The colorful and varieties of culture of Bangladesh gives real fascination to its tourists and the warm hospitability of the world happiest Bangladeshis make the visitors coming back to the country again and again. Simplicity is the deeply rooted in the gens of Bangladeshis and that makes even a newly arrived foreign tourist be a part of a Bangladeshi family in few minutes. (BPC, 2012)

The country has been a kept secret of Asia over the decades even though it has many attractive and unique features as it has been over shadowed by India in many aspects, BPC(2012 ).Sometimes people confuse the country as a part of India and its unique and distinguished features of tourism are overlooked in a great extent. Besides, Bangladeshi media have been failure and inactive to market the vast potentials of Bangladeshi tourism in international level and similarly global media always have emphasized the natural disasters and poverty of Bangladesh ignoring its positive aspects, BPC(2012). So the effort of the work is related with the

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essence of its true identity bring in a light and make the world informed of Bangladeshi tourism in a neutral and actual view.

1.1 Purposes of the study:

The purpose of the thesis is to find-out the perceptions of the Swedes about the tourism of Bangladesh and to represent the practical scenario of the sector. The prospects of the tourism sector of Bangladesh will also be analyzed on the paper. Furthermore, through the report, efforts will be made to minimize unawareness and the misconceptions about the tourism of Bangladesh.

The work will be based on the respective theories and hypothesis and also come up with the solutions to the drawbacks and threats of Bangladeshi tourism. Besides, the necessary recommendations will also be made in order to develop Bangladeshi tourism in global arena.

1.2 Hypothesis:

In line with the purposes of the study, the following hypothesis is posed to guide the research process:

Hypothesis 1 (H1): Most of the Swedes are not well informed about the tourism of Bangladesh;

even many of them are not aware of the country.

Hypothesis (H2): The tourism of Bangladesh has the potentials for attracting a large number of international tourists.

Hypothesis (H3): Promoting the tourism sector can also be a prospective field of Bangladesh to earn vast amount of domestic and foreign revenue.

1.3 Research Data:

The study has been conducted based on both qualitative and quantitative data that were based on the related publications-articles, books, e-books, journals, database-Business Source Premium, internet based information, open interviews and so on.

1.3.1 Qualitative Data: All sorts of data are used to denote quality and/or to describe facts.

Furthermore, qualitative data can be defined as the data that have no numerical value. For example, the perceptions of Swedes, descriptions of the tourist attractions etc.

1.3.2 Quantitative Data: The data that carry numerical value. That means, quantitative data

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deals with numbers and used for measuring numerical value. For example, the average number of tourists and cost of tourism of Bangladesh etc.

1.4 Limitations of the study:

The most significant problems stand here that the respondents often respond with seldom words or sometimes they overlook the questions during the data collection stage. That caused the data collection inadequate and sometimes irrelevant. Thus, the data collection process was lengthier and more time consuming than it was anticipated.

Besides, it was very difficult to organize the whole work within this short period of time.

Furthermore, the topic we are working on is very vast indeed. So, it was not possible to focus on the entire areas of tourism sector of Bangladesh. Besides, the paper could have been more resourceful if the data collection was made in Bangladesh.

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CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Research Orientation:

Research orientation represents the systematic approach of doing research. That means, it prescribes the relationships between methods, data, theories and values of the researcher (Ghauri

& Gronhaug, 2010). In business research, there may have different research orientations, like- from objective generalizable problem solving to specific practical problem solving for a particular company (Burrel and Morgan, 1979; Gill and Johnson, as cited from Ghauri &

Gronhaug, 2010). However, two well known and agreed orientations are as follows:

 Induction: It is based on empirical evidence and makes conclusions from empirical observations. That is, the research process goes from observations-findings-theory building. So, theory is the outcome of this type of research (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010).

 Deduction: Deduction is based on logic and makes conclusions through logical reasoning. That means, this type of research deduces hypothesis from the existing knowledge and that hypothesis is subject to empirical scrutiny to be accepted or rejected.

Thus, the flow of the process goes:

[Figure: The process of deduction, Bryman and Bell (2007, pp. 11)]

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The paper has been formulated based on the deductive approach. Some theories related to service management and tourism marketing has been considered at first, then the hypotheses were made.

The paper has been based on three hypotheses through that the perception of the Swedes and potential and prospects of the industry have been analyzed based on the available data. In addition, a large amount of data was collected in relation to our hypotheses that have been used to test our hypothesis.

2.2 Research Methods:

Qualitative methodology and case studies provide powerful tools for research in management and business subjects, including general management, leadership, marketing, organization, corporate strategy, accounting and more (Gummesson, 2000). The paper has been formulated based on qualitative approach and case study research.

2.2.1 Qualitative Research Strategy: The qualitative research increasingly has become a popular approach to business research which usually focuses on quality of objects rather than on numerical value. Bryman and Bell (2007) states “Qualitative research is a research strategy that usually emphasizes words rather than quantification in the collection and analysis of data”. So, from the definition it could be said that qualitative research deals with quality measures rather than quantity.

However, qualitative research is common in social and behavioral sciences and among practitioners who want to understand human behavior and functions. Thus, it is mostly suitable for studying organizations, groups and individuals (Strauss and Corbin, 1990 as cited from Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010).

2.2.2 Case Study Research: Case study research method has been in use for many years for conducting research in a variety of field like-sociology, business and education and so on. Robert K. Yin (2009) defines the case study method as an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used. Then, Yin, 2009 also states, the case study method allows investigators to retain the holistic and meaningful characteristics of real-life events-such as small group behavior,

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organizational and managerial processes. Then, Ghauri et al, 1983 (as cited from Ghauri &

Gronhaug, 2010) refers, the case study approach is often associated with exploratory or descriptive research, without being restricted to these areas. Furthermore, Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010, states case study research is useful when phenomenon under investigation is difficult to study outside its natural setting and also when the concepts and variables under study are difficult to quantify.

2.2.3 Quantitative Research Strategy: Burns & Grove (2005:23) has defined; “Quantitative research is a formal, object oriented and systematic process where numerical data are extensive used to get information about the world”. Qualitative research method is used for the purpose of:

 describing variables;

 examining relationships among variables;

 determining cause-and-effect interactions between variables. (Burns & Grove 2005:23) Then, Creswell (1994) has given a more concrete definition of quantitative research as explaining phenomena where numerical data are collected and analysis is being carried based on mathematical methods.

The paper has been designed with a focus on qualitative approach. Information regarding tourists of Sweden and tourism of Bangladesh was the base of the work and mostly qualitative in nature.

Then, quantitative approach has also been focused as the result has been based on three hypotheses. In relation to the three hypotheses, vast amount of numerical data has been used, especially the number of tourist arrival in Bangladesh, their spending patterns, and revenue generated from the tourism industry, cost of major tourism products in Bangladesh; like-food, accommodation and transportation and many more. Besides, percentage approach has been used to confirm the result of the three hypotheses, Furthermore, the trend of the amount of revenue generated from the tourism sector over the last nine years has also been explained. Besides, taking the tourism sector of Bangladesh as a case, the study has been conducted to extract the perceptions of the Swedes about the tourism of Bangladesh, its potentialities as well the prospects of the sector. So, the paper has the base of both qualitative and quantitative approaches with a focus on case study approach.

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2.3 Data Collection:

Data are the most important element in doing research which is considered as the strength and can give us valuable insights about the research problem at hand. However, the choice of data collection will depend upon an overall judgment on which type of data is needed for a particular research problem (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010). The study has been conducted based on both primary and secondary data.

2.3.1 Primary Data: Primary data are original data collected by us for the research problem at hand and these are relevant with our research questions and research objectives. The data are first hand without any alteration. However, collecting primary data is a difficult task as the target people or groups are rarely willing to cooperate and answer the questions (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010).

Primary data can be collected through a variety of ways like-observations, experiment, surveys and interviews. The primary data have been collected based on interviews and surveys, especially tourists’ opinion about tourism of Bangladesh, information regarding the cost of different tourism components of Bangladesh, tour packages offered by the Bangladeshi tour operators, information regarding the attractions of Bangladesh and many more. Different groups of people (students, business man, employed, unemployed and etc.) have been interviewed and a survey has been conducted on 52 tourists of Sweden and 3 tour operators of Bangladesh. E-mail and telephone conversations were used for taking interviews of the correspondent people and organizations of Bangladesh as they were far away. Besides, a number of open ended questions were formulated for taking the interviews and close ended questions were mostly used for conducting surveys.

2.3.2 Secondary data: Secondary data are information available on secondary sources. These are already available data on books, journals, internet, magazines, newspapers, articles and so on.

This information usually collected by others for purposes that can be different from ours (Ghauri

& Gronhaug, 2010). However, the information are easy to access, save money and time, helps better to formulate and understand the research field and many more. For the study, different sources of secondary data were used like-articles, journals, websites of the target tour operators and authorities. The official website of BPC (Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation) was the most

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important source of secondary data. However, the most common type of secondary data that have been used are the amount of revenue generated from the tourism of Bangladesh, cost of accommodation, transportation and foods, attractions of Bangladesh and many more. Then, the report published by the WTO (World Tourism Organization) has been based to draw a true picture of the tourism of Bangladesh.

2.4 Data Analysis:

Marshall and Rossman, 1995 (as cited from Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010) defines data analysis as the process of bringing order, structure and meaning to the mass of collected data. However, the purpose of data analysis lies in understanding and gaining insights from the collected data (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010). Thus, data analysis helps us to find out most suitable information, take relevant decision as well as to make conclusion related to the research problem. There are many approaches for analyzing data but no single, agreed-upon approach to qualitative data analysis exists (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010). Yin (2009, pp. 127), also states, unlike statistical analysis there are a few fixed formulas to guide the data analysis rather investigators are tend to use own style of rigorous empirical thinking supported by sufficient presentation of information and careful consideration of alternative interpretations. However, Yin (2009, pp. 130) have proposed four general strategies for analyzing case study evidence:

 Relying on theoretical propositions: Evidence should be analyzed based on the relevant theories that led to the case study as such theories usually taken as relevant to the design of the case study and effect the research questions as well.

 Developing a case description: Develop a descriptive framework for organizing the case study. However, this is usually most suitable when lots of data has been collected without considering any set of research questions or propositions.

 Using both qualitative and quantitative data: In case studies, quantitative data may also be used when it seems relevant. Thus, statistical techniques may also be used.

 Examining rival explanation: It means, defining and testing rival explanation and it works with all of the above three strategies.

However, for the purpose of the thesis, theoretical propositions of service management, tourism

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and tourism marketing have been used. Having a focus on the theoretical propositions, empirical data have been collected and analyzed to find out the corresponding situation of the tourism of Bangladesh. During the study, a large amount of qualitative data has been used, especially to find out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the tourism sector of Bangladesh.

Then, quantitative data has been analyzed through percentage approach and statistical graphs and charts have been used to draw quantitative values. To prove the hypotheses, a large amount of qualitative data has also been based; e.g. the perception of the Swedes. Qualitative data were also in use, they were the base for drawing the quantitative result of the hypotheses.

2.5 Truth Criteria:

Maintaining quality has always been the major concern in every research. Validity and Reliability are the two common criteria that can assess and establish the quality of research.

Thus, both validity and reliability have become the most important characteristics of research from both the researchers’ and readers’ perspective.

2.5.1 Validity: Bryman and Bell (2007) has defined validity as “A concern with the integrity of the conclusions that are generated from a piece of research”. Then, they have suggested that there are different forms of validity in qualitative research, like:

 Internal validity: “Means whether or not there is a good match between researchers, observation and the theoretical ideas they develop”.

 External validity: “The degree to which findings can be generalized across social settings”.

On the other hand, Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010 (pp. 210) have proposed some other forms of validity, like-descriptive validity, interpretive validity, theoretical validity and generalizable validity. Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010 they have explained descriptive validity as “the degree to which the actual description holds true”, then interpretive validity represents “how good the interpretation is”, then theoretical validity refers to “the adequacy of our suggested ‘theory’ on explanation” and by generalizable validity he means “at what extent the findings from a study can be generalized to other settings”.

2.5.2 Reliability: The term ‘Reliability’ usually represents trustworthiness, dependable, stability

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and so on. Bryman and Bell (2007) has defined reliability as the degree to which a measure of a concept is stable. However, the term reliability is not limited to this definition; rather it has different meanings as different scholars also have expressed their views in different ways. Like, Le Complete and Goetz (as cited from Bryman and Bell, 2007) have defined reliability as:

 External Reliability: “The degree to which a study can be replicated”. However, this criterion of research has been marked as difficult, as they have found it is nearly impossible to freeze a social setting and the circumstances of an initial study to make it replicable in the sense in which the term is usually employed.

 Internal Reliability: By internal reliability they mean that when there is more than one observer, they agree among themselves what they see and hear. This perspective of reliability is also seems similar notion to inter-observer consistency.

So, for any research, it’s imperative that the information used as well as expressed through the research, must be valid and reliable to ensure authenticity for both researcher’s and readers’

perspective. Thus, it’s very important to ensure at first that the data gathering process is valid and the sources are reliable. Furthermore, the data used in the research process must be relevant to the objective of the research as due to irrelevant information and unauthentic sources of data, the entire research will be misguided and result of the study will be misleading as well. However, during working with this paper validity and reliability have been maintained throughout the research process. The theoretical part has been designed with the relevant explanation of tourism and tourism marketing. Then, for generating hypotheses, we have focused on present scenario of the tourism of Bangladesh. For collecting data, we have chosen the most authentic sources in Bangladesh and Sweden, e.g. we have followed the official website of the tourism board of Bangladesh and recent report published by the World Tourism Organization (WTO).

Furthermore, on the empirical part, information about the tourism of Bangladesh has been presented that truly reflects the recent scenarios of the tourism of Bangladesh. And, finally the findings have been based on the analysis of the empirical data that have ensured both validity and reliability of the research.

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CHAPTER 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

3.1 Tourism and Tourist:

Tourism: Tourism has some conceptual terms that are required to be discussed to understand the clear concept and definition of tourism. The key terms include tourism, tourists, travelling, destinations, hospitality, leisure, recreation, service. A brief description of each of them is given below:

Tourism is a significant field of discussion which covers many interrelated areas. So the elements associated to tourism require to be discussed to understand the whole concept of tourism. A new concept was emerged from the World Conference on Travel and Tourism in Rome in 1963 that tourism does not come up with only positive impacts; it also has negative impacts on economy, socio-cultural, political and environmental aspects. In many parts of the world, especially in some developing countries tourism creates economic progress by providing employment opportunities in tourism related different sub-sectors, earning foreign currency and in some aspects tourism always plays vital role in maintaining a peaceful and understanding environment throughout the world as it is considered by United Nations.

Tourism was not known by its term in the old days but from the beginning of human civilization it started to be familiar. But tourism gained much popularity in a vast extent in the 19^th century.

Tourism itself also needs to be defined clearly to understand it’s related terms but the reality is there is no single ideal definition is accepted universally.

It has been always a difficult task for practitioners and academicians to define tourism. Some of the experts believe that tourism is an industry and on the other hand, some others think that people involve in tourism make traveling for different purposes-leisure, short stay, business and fun.

In 991, a significant and acceptable definition was designed in the Ottawa conference on tourism arranged by the World Tourism Organization (WTO). According to the recommendations of the conference, WTO indorsed the definition in 1992 and next year (1992) United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) also adopted it. Middleton (1994) quoted the definition as: “Tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual

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environment for not more than one consecutive year of leisure, business and other purpose.”

Then, according to Goeldner et al (2000), Tourism is the total sum of phenomena and relationships that arise from the interaction of tourists, business suppliers, host government and communities in the process of attracting and hosting tourists and visitors.

The author also has mentioned that tourism is the combination of activities, industries and services that provides a travel complete travel experience. The experience is associated with accommodation, transportation, eating and drinking, entertainment, shops and other hospitability services for the individuals or group of people that are traveling away from home. The definition is full and covers all the aspects of tourism. Besides, Chris (1991) mentioned the definition of tourism provided by the British Tourist Authority as: “a stay of one or more nights away from home for holidays, visitors to friends or relatives, business conferences or any other purpose except such things as boarding education or semi-permanent employment.”

Tourism, basically, an industry which is entirely interdependent and interrelated. Tourism, sometimes, is practiced in such an extent that the tourists do not have a deep interest in the societies and places they intend to visit.

Tourist: A universally accepted definition of a tourist was provided by The United Nations Conference on International Travel and Tourism in 1963 as (Sinclair, 1998):

‘‘visitors who make temporary visit and spend more than 24 hours in destinations beyond their normal place of residence, whose journey is for the purpose of visiting family or friends, holiday- making, recreation, , study, health religion, sport, business or meetings, and on the other hand, those who spend less than 24 hours in their destinations are termed as excursionists.’’

The term ‘tourist’ came into use in the late eighteen century with its literal meaning of “one who tours” but very quickly it gained its broader and related sense of “one who makes tours for recreation or pleasure” and the concept continued to dominate for two centuries (Quinion, undated). Then the nature of the tours were lengthy and was confined only to wealthy people because it was expensive and took long time to get to an interesting place.

As cited in Latham and Edwards, 1989, The World Tourism Organization (WTO) defined the term tourism in and categorized the visitors in the following types:

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 Tourism – refers the activities of a person who travels outside of his or her usual living place for not more than one consecutive year with the purpose of business or pleasure.

 Tourist (overnight visitor)’- the visitors who spend at least one night in a private pr sharing accommodation outside of their usual living place.

 Same Day Visitor – the visitors who do not stay at least one night in a private or sharing accommodation in the places they visit and they are termed also an excursionist’

 Visitor – refers the person who travels to an unusual place outside of his or her living place less than consecutive twelve months and who travels with the aim not to do any paid work.

 Traveler –a person who travels to two or more places on the same trip.

3.2 Different Types of Tourism:

There are different types of tourism according to its characteristics. The characteristic include the purpose of tourism, type of locations, length of stay, the nature of activities in the destinations and etc.

 Adventure Tourism: Adventure tourism is a kind of tourism that involves exploration or traveling to remote, unknown and risky places where travelers or explorers encounter surprising and unexpected things. According to C. M. Hall, adventure tourism ‘’as a wide range of outdoor activities of tourists, often commercialized and involves interaction with the natural environment away from the participant’s home range and containing elements of risks in which the result is influenced by the participant, setting, and management of the tourists’

experience’’. (Quoted by Sung, 2000). But later on, Sung found this definition as an incomplete one on the basis of his new research findings and came up with a new definition of adventure tourism which was considered as a complete one: “A travel or exploration with the specific purpose of activity participation to explore a new experience, often involving perceived risk or controlled danger associated with personal challenges, in a natural environment or exotic outdoor setting” (Sung, et al., 1997).

Adventure tourism has been popular and fast growing over the ages and this kind of travel is made by the people who seeks flexible holiday time rather than any usual period, the typical adventurous tourists tend to be risk taker, brave and free from extensive family or profession

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oriented responsibilities, the explorers in adventure tourism travel through inaccessible, remote and possibly hostile areas. This form of tourism requires consisting performance of acts that require considerable amount of efforts and endurance and in many cases a fair degree of risk. The tour operators understand the needs of this kind of tourists and design perfect strategies to serve the target segments and ensure that they are well prepared and satisfied.

 Agro-tourism: This is a kind of tourism which is accompanied by voluntary works of travelers on firms where hospitality is offered to the tourists to give a supporting hand to the farming tasks and generally the agro tourists enjoy the opportunity to taste honey, pick up vegetables and fresh fruits directly from the trees, ride horses, learning how to prepare wine, shopping in gifts shops that contain the handy-craft, traditional products of a certain place or region and so on. Agro tourists usually enjoy an unforgettable experience during their activities in firms and that is also a suitable form of tourism for whole family. The tourism offers an wide range of lively experiences to the tourists which is much support in terms of economic development, as the tourists learn the firming production process, take part in to it, experience the living ducks, chicken, goats, sheep, cows and these all are new experience for children. For agriculture-based societies, this form of tourism is a source of income.

 Ecotourism: Ecotourism is based on natural environment and is aimed to reduce the harmful impact on natural environment and promote conservation. According to The International Ecotourism society, ecotourism is a kind of tourism which holds a responsibility to the natural areas that aims to conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people. The tourism is related to wilderness adventures, local cultures, volunteering, personal growth and above all learning the naturally perfect way to live on our vulnerable planet. Typical and responsible ecotourism is involved that works for minimizing the hostile impact of traditional tourism on the natural environment and also in order to increase the cultural responsibility and integrity of local people. Apart from the evaluation of cultural and environmental factors, the tour operators or other hospitality providers work together to promote recycling energy, efficiency, water re-use and the creation of vast economic opportunity for the local communities.

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It is often misunderstood the real concept of ecotourism in real practice, the idea of ecotourism is often manipulated for the purpose of business and promote tourism. Some critics claim that the tourists are misguided by establishing a hotel in a naturally beautiful landscape and the process of ecotourism is abused instead. According to them, it often creates vulnerability of the nature and authentic characteristics of nature are overlooked.

 Heritage Tourism: Heritage tourism is a recent inclusion in the industry of tourism and over the years it has gained much popularity. The tour is aimed to enrich the experience of lives through traveling to some unique and historical places. This tour is not just simply an escape rather than visiting wonderful parks and a mountain range, The typical heritage tourists prefer to experience historical and industrial sites that may include old establishments, battleground, old canals, old weaponry, canons etc. with the purpose to gain idea about the golden parts and prides of past. Besides these, marriage, education, fun and employment can be also a purpose of heritage tourism.

 Sex Tourism: A tourism that is often kept in darkness though it is made frequently. Sex tourism is aimed with purpose of having sex in the places where sexual partners are readily available they are not just more than an animated object. An idea definition of sex tourism is, a man who goes through a mid-life crisis, who has been deprived of sexual enjoyment of life due to feminism, woman’s liberation rhetoric, a man who is tired and hesitated of taking a politically correct position on his sexual preference due to social pressure, be influenced to go for a sex tourism by the advertisement that appears on special magazines and world to mouth. (Rao, 1999)

Sex tourists can be a worker, manager, employer, unemployed, even political leaders, but one thing is common to all of them and that is they all want to feel like they are real men and enjoy sex in their traveling destinations. Now-a-days, sex is promoted in tourism is like gastronomy; both are common attributes in tourism industry. Sex tourism is a legal practice in the countries where prostitution is legally permissible. An adult who travels to the destinations with the purpose of having legal consensual sexual relations or pleasure with another adult for the exchange of money or presents is called sex tourists. Generally, most of the sex tourists are male; sometimes females are also seen rarely.

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 Cultural Tourism: Cultural tourism has been a common practice throughout the world and most of the tourists prefer this form of tourism with the purpose to experience culture of a country or region, primary focus is given to local arts and includes touris in historic places that are mainly located in urban areas. The historical establishments and facilities tend to be available in large cities such as theatres, museums and that make the tourists to visit urban areas. Ingram, Hadyn (2003)

 Geotourism: Geotourism is a kind of ethical tourism which is aimed to sustain and enhances the authentic geographical character of a place-its environment, culture, heritage, aesthetics and well being of the residents of that particular area. According to Worldwatch Institute, ecotourism, geotourism, and pro-poor tourism are among the increasingly popular niches in the travel industry that aim to address consumers’ ethical concerns (Quoted by Wagner, 2005).

3.3 Components of Tourism:

While going through customer satisfaction research in the hospitality and tourism industry, the hospitality researchers have always focused on identifying the source of customer satisfaction and they have also made their maximum efforts to understand what are the needs and wants of customers in the context of tourism. Most of the researchers are not agree on the notion of applying number of key attributes to measure customer satisfaction, rather they agree on the idea that a multi-attribute scale should be used to measure the customer satisfaction. (Cai & Zhang, 2003; Neal, 2003; and Yourtseven, 2000).

Tourism was often perceived and conceptualized as a highly complex series of production- oriented activities in a post-modern society (Pretes, 1995). But in recent time, in order to build a sustainable competitive advantage, the concept of customer value has become the most important considerable element. (Woodruff, 1997). Service quality that makes the customer highly satisfied during vacation experience is the most key factor in the field of travel and tourism.(Neal, 2003).

According to Crompton and Love, 1999, the outcome that is experienced by the customers after they get exposure of a service product has been conceptualized as Customer satisfaction. The personal connection and relationship between the service provider and customer should be a main focus in any hospitality and tourism service model. (Noe and Uysal 2001).

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According many studies, service quality associated to customer satisfaction have been a very major concepts in the hospitality and tourism industry and also in the field of marketing as they are generally used as the indicators of profitability and significant achievement of organizational objectives. Recently, most of the studies have focused on the distinguishing aspects of this concept, the ways and means to measure them, and their interrelationship vis-à-vis their impact on outcomes (Lee, et al., 2004). Generally, even management ensures to provide the elements of quality service for all kinds of visitors. All the visitors expect their expectations to be fulfilled with great satisfaction by the service elements provided by their intended service providers.

(Yourtseven, 2000). The natural and authentic qualities of a certain destination and community should be preserved and protected regardless of the type of tourism management tools are used by the tourism service providers.(Tasci, et al., 2004) In modern age, international tourism industry performs a wide range of sub-functions of overall tourism industry rather than one or two isolated functions that used to be delivered previously. Now modern tourism companies provide multi-functional services in the forms of transportation, food and lodging also security in some cases. Some other major actors for tour attractions include the level of appealing and attractiveness of the spots or sites, historical importance and supportive entertainment facilities (Neal, 2003). In order to satisfy a customer to the full extent the customers have to be provided all those services in a package rather than in separated form and it is really a vital point to understand what the customers really want and prefer. So, different organizations offer a wide range of services according to the demand of customers to ensure every single customer is satisfied.

 Transportation: The most vital component of tourism industry is transportation. Obviously the tourism industry would be collapsed to function without the presence of efficient and effective transportation system (Cook et. al., 2007). A historic city or a beautiful place becomes only a tourist destination when the places are easily accessible. The cities or places should be under the network of smooth road and railway transportation system to become a popular site for the tourists. According to many researchers, the level of accessibility needs to be evaluated with the level of parking facilities that are connected and convenient to the city centre – but the typical and authentic characters of the natural beauty and historical places have to be maintained. Families that are intended to visit retail parks at weekends often

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ignore the parks if those are only a few kilometers away (Kroshus, 2003). So, transportation system is not only a cause but also an effect of growth of tourism. To begin with, tourism has been stimulated by improved system and facilities and the expansion of tourism has stimulated transport. Accessibility is the main function behind the basics of tourism transport.

Tourists will use any mode of transportation in order to access their intended places or attractions but for international tourism air transport has been the main mode over the ages.

(Kroshus, 2003).

 Accommodation: The facilities of accommodation have generally been grouped under the umbrella termed lodging though accommodation can be found in many shapes and sizes. In the context of tourism, accommodations refer temporary living, quarter for the tourists through a wide range of sources, including bed and breakfast, condominium properties, hotels, conference centers, time shares, motels, campground and recreational vehicle parks.

Lodging properties are not all about physical elements that have been mentioned. The properties are more than just mortar, bricks and sticks. Once the physical facilities have been constructed, a group of enthusiastic stuff must be hired, provided relevant and useful training, organized and motivated to meet guests’ needs. The task should be done long before the tourists make booking or arrive to the accommodation. The guests can enjoy the whole stuff working for them if the size and number of tourists occupy the major proportion of the accommodation. (Cook et. al., 2007).

Middleton and Clarke (1999), suggests that to make travel convenient and comfortable, accommodation plays a vital and functional role by providing the facilities and support that are needed to the tourists or guests. According to Hall (1995), lodging services or accommodation as one of the more important components on the side of demand as it has a major influence on the type of tourists or guests who come to a destinations.

 Food: The services related to food service or catering are very crucial as the food plays a very important role in tourism industry. The cultural and geographical backgrounds of tourists determine the availability of certain and preferred food items in the destinations.

(MacDonald, 1997). Food services are not all about only to provide foods and beverages, Foodservice operations are not simply in the business of providing food and beverages; it is

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also aimed in business to ensure that the guests finds the maximum level of enjoyment through the process. The goal of customer enjoyment is extensively supported by long term attention and preparation that is undertaken before the arrival of the first guest. The experience of the guest is not determined only by the core service of delivering foods and beverages but also some supportive services like the design of menu of the foods, plate setting, aesthetic aspects of the food serving environment, orderliness and cleanliness of the environment where guests enjoy the foods, style of service and the behavior of the service provider. All these factors are much important to achieve customer satisfaction and the operation must be made within the physical and human constraints of the service providing company. (Cook et. al., 2007).

3.4 The 10 ‘Marketing-Mix of Tourism’:

If we dig into the hole of Bangladeshi tourism in the perspective of 10 marketing elements (product, price, promotion, place, participants, process, physical evidence, partnership, packaging and programming) then it could be understood much vividly the real scenario of the tourist market of Bangladesh.

 Product: Tourism as a product can be understood from the supplier (tour operators) and consumer (tourists) perspectives. The concept of product in terms of tourism varies from suppliers or sellers’ to consumer or tourists’ view. Tourism product demanded by consumers are satisfying trips-as the consumer product and the service or goods produced by suppliers or tour operators are transportation, guidance, food and accommodation and drink-seller product. The tourism product differs from other products due to the wide range it covers, including such areas as accommodations, transportation, food, recreation and attractions.

Often the product includes intangibles such as history, culture and natural beauty. Many times the hospitality or tourism product is viewed as more of a “service”in the customer’s eyes. ‘In the domain of tourism, the product can encompass a multitude of factors. For example, in the context of tourism destination, the product is said to include the destinations’

attractions and it’s environment, the destinations’ facilities and services, accessibly to the destinations and its imagery and price as perceived and paid for by the customer. ‘(Fyall and Garrod, 2005)

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For example, in Bangladesh Discoverybangladesh.com operates some package tours and in this perspective Discoverybangladesh is a seller which sells 5day package tour as a product and the tourist who buy that product are consumers or tourists. In the market of Bangladeshi tourism, the consumers have a wide a variety of products to buy such as 4-days and 5 nights tour to Cox’s Bazar and Saint Martin Island, 8 days to world-heritage site, historical and Archaeological tour Bangladesh, 1 day Dhaka city tour, 4 days tour to Sundarban-home of Royal Bengal Tiger and the largest mangrove forest in the world operated by discoverybangladesh.com (discoverybangladesh, 2012)

 Price: In the tourism marketing price is the most important element which is generates company’s turnover. The ideal pricing of tourism reflects the perfect relationship between the demand of sellers (tour operators) and consumers (tourists) and take into accounts some factors such as company objectives, competition, fixed and variable costs, proposed positioning, target groups and willingness to pay. Pricing is particularly important in tourism context in that the high degree of product intangibility often reduce the number of alternative bases for comparison by customers. Cooper et al. (1998:397) argue that the pricing of tourism products also has to take into account the ‘complexity created by seasonality of demand and the inherent perishability of the product.’ When it comes to the setting of prices, however, Davidson (1997) argues that success is largely determined by the availability of accurate information upon which to base decision-making, which is not something instantly available in all sectors of tourism industry (Leask et al, 2002). In tourism marketing, the price strategy includes penetration pricing, skimming pricing, competition pricing, product line pricing, premium pricing, bundle pricing, and optional pricing. In Bangladeshi tourism industry, the sellers maintain a penetration pricing as the Bangladeshi tourism is yet to be flourished and that is why the tour operators need to attract more customers or increase sales volume rather than pursuing to gain short term market profit.

 Promotion: Promotion plays a significant role in marketing as an element of marketing mix in any product and service. So in case of tourism product/service it has no exception.

Generally the tourists want to be informed in advance about the special attractions and the facilities of a particular destination. The tourists also want to be well informed. As a result,

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dissemination of information on travel and tourism-related products and services are highly important. By using the different tools of promotion, marketers attempt to serve this purpose and try to influence the potential tourists’ attitudes in favour of the sponsor’s destination and grow interest to visit the same.

Though promotion plays an important role in tourism marketing, the tourism marketing in Bangladesh is far behind from reaching this goal; as a result Bangladeshi tourism market has been failure to attract more foreign tourists. The main reason is that there has been always lack of promotional activities to capture the world tourism market. Both the private and public tour operators of Bangladesh have the resource constraints and cannot afford the sufficient budget for the promotional purpose. In addition to that, the tour operators have lack of knowledge and idea about tourism marketing As a result; they cannot create enough exposure to international level about their products (package tours) and lose their potential tourism market share. The operators only prefer the local media which is not sufficiently effective for the tourism industry where the extent of the target market is large and diversified and the potential customers are in the different parts of the world. In addition to that, very poor quality of promotional materials, lack of strong media, perceived negative image to the international tourists imposed by international media and news of natural disasters of Bangladesh on world media overshadowed the tourist attractions of the country in international arena. The promotional activities that are used to attract customers to buy the tourism products include information kits, web sites, advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, travel shows, and public relations. Utilize tourist information centers, such as welcome centers.

 Place: Place is methods of storing and transporting a product and then making them available for the customer. Getting the right product to the right place at the right time involves the distribution system. The choice of distribution method will depend on a variety of circumstances; some manufacturers find it so convenient to sell through different intermediaries like wholesalers who sell to retailers and ultimately they sell to the customers, but on the other hand, some manufacturers sell directly their products to the customers. In the tourism context, Godfrey and Clarke (2000) define the ‘place’ element of the marketing

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mix as ‘route of exchange’, through which a tourist accesses, books, confirms and pays for a tourism product. For the tourism marketing, the places include the travel agency, tour operators, travel-information centers, tour-wholesalers etc.

 Partnership: Partnership is a very common practice in tourism context. By forming partnerships with the companies that share the same business objective, overall demands of the tourism customer can be met while sharing the total marketing costs. One major form of the partnership in tourism marketing is strategic alliances by which two or more organizations can be benefitted by their own strengths. For example, in Bangladesh many tour operators form alliances with popular and five start hotels and be benefitted mutually.

(David L. Edgell, 2002)

 Packaging: Because the tourism product often includes a variety of attractions, facilities and services, packaging must also take on several forms. A presentation of products and/or services that would normally be purchased separately, but are combined in a single purchase for the convenience of the consumer in ease, pricing, etc. (David L. Edgell, 2002)

 Programming: Programming special events and activities enhances and enriches the tourism product and makes marketing much easier. Programming generates new business, encourages repeat business, increases customer spending, increases customer satisfaction, promotes off peak periods, etc. Effective programming can provide an effective return on investment.

Programming, just as any marketing, should include a plan of action including the customer groups to which it is to be aimed.

 Positioning: Positioning refers finding a special place in the market for the product of tourism to differentiate the company from its competitors. The tourism marketers identify a set of competitive advantages by which they make positioning of their products. Selecting the right competitive advantage is an important part of the positing a product in a market.

Finally, the tourism marketers communicate and delivery the chosen position to their target market. Bangladesh Expedition-a tour operating company always enjoys a good positioning of their products (package tours) as it has a great competitive advantage over its rival companies as the tour operating company is located next to the reception counter of a five

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star hotel of Bangladesh called Sheraton. (David L. Edgell, 2002)

 People: The people who sell and service the products are an extremely important part of tourism marketing. Friendly personal service and trained employees can make or break a tourism business. Because much of the tourism industry is based upon word-of-mouth advertising particularly about the service received- what your customers say after they depart and if they can thrust the business forward or send it into a downward spiral. (David L.

Edgell, 2002)

 Planning: An important part of a viable business plan is to develop a strategic marketing plan in an effort to identify customer expectations. Research and planning also helps design and devise means by which tourism marketers can meet these expectations. Planning provides a road map and it is a working document. To be effective the plan must be maintained, reviewed and revised and planning should have an annual marketing plan, with a component that mentions long-term goals as well.

Successful marketing means putting the customer first. If the Ten ‘P’s’ are followed of Tourism Marketing,” the customers will come first because it will be easy to understand them better. It will also make more effective use of the marketing and by doing so, profits will be maximized. (David L. Edgell, 2002)

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CHAPTER 4: EMPIRICAL STUDY

4.1 A Brief overview on Bangladesh:

Bangladesh is a democratic country and it started its journey as a free independent country from 16th December, 1971 following a nine-month long liberation war. Previously the country used to be called East-Pakistan after the British divided India into two parts-India and Pakistan. The official name of Bangladesh is People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Dhaka (previously known as Dacca) is the capital city of Bangladesh. Bangladesh got UNO recognition on 17th September 1974 and its membership number is 136. (BPC, 2012)

The total area of Bangladesh is 147,570 sq km. The total length of border land of Bangladesh is 4,246 km and 93.9% of that is shared with India and the rest 6% with Myanmar. Bangladesh is a humid, low-lying alluvial region that is composed mainly of the great combined Delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra, Meghna Rivers. The country is one of the largest deltas in the world.

(BPC, 2012)

Bangladesh has sub-tropical climate and greatly influenced by monsoon. Bangladesh has mainly warm weather, average maximum and minimum winter temperatures are 29°C and 11°C respectively; average maximum summer temperature is 34°C and the minimum of it is 21°. The annual rainfall of Bangladesh is 1,194 mm to 3,454 mm. The country also has higher level of humidity and the highest level of it is in August to September (80% to 100%) and the lowest is 36% in February to March. (BPC, 2012)

Bangladesh has a highly density of population, the total number of Population of Bangladesh is 123.1 million, 834 people live in per sq km and the annual growth rate of the population is 1.47%. Bangladesh has more males than females and the ratio of them is (106:100). 93.34 million People of Bangladesh live in rural areas and 28.8 million of people live in urban areas of Bangladesh. (BPC, 2012)

In terms of ethnical identity, Bangladesh people belong to amalgamation of Dravidian, Proto- Asutraloaid, Mongoloid and Ariyan. 1.2 million Tribal people live in Bangladesh and they mainly lives in hilly areas. Majority of Bangladeshis are Muslim (88.3%) and 10.5% Hindus, 0.6% Buddhists, 0.5% Christian and 0.1% belong to other religions. The official and national

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language of Bangladesh is Bengali, 99.5% people speak the language and rest 0.5% speak other dialects. The second important language in Bangladesh is English. According to the data of 2001, Bangladesh has 65.5% literacy rate. Life expectancy at birth in Bangladesh is 61 years.

(BPC, 2012)

Bangladesh is blessed with numerous archaeological sites and tourist spots. The country has the largest natural sea beach of the world (120 KM) and a very beautiful sea beach called Kuakata.

The largest mangrove forest in the world (Sundarban) is also located in Bangladesh.

(Banglapedia, 2012)

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4.2 Attractions of Bangladesh:

According to Schendal 2009, in the western media Bangladesh is often represented as an underprivileged, underdevelopment country that is destined to fight with natural disasters frequently. The country has had the image of underprivileged people, underdevelopment infrastructure and vulnerable to the natural disasters. But in the context of Bangladesh, the nature has compensated all those natural disasters with some unique blessings and that have been behind the curtain over the ages. The country has the world largest natural sandy sea beach, the largest mangrove forest, Kuakata Sea Beach which is one of the very rare beaches of the world where the tourists can view both sunrise and sunset. Besides, Bangladesh has a rich tradition, historical achieve, eye-catching architectures, ancient and marvellous establishments, historical and spiritual sites, lush greenery surfaces, diversified landscapes, numerous archaeological sites, a place of good number of tribes with much colourful life. All these things have made a Bangladesh a very attractive tourist destination. (BPC, 2012)

Apart from the natural beauty and archaeological sites, Bangladesh also contains innumerable hills, wild lives, tea gardens, monuments, sanctuaries, handicrafts religious festivals, folklore, cultural heritage, colorful and easy way of life etc. Bangladesh is also called a land of rivers, thousands of vast rivers are seen in amongst every part of the country. “Ibn Batuta, a Moorish traveler who visited Bengal in the fourteenth century described Bengal as the cheapest and wealthiest land of the world and stated that it was known as ‘a hell full of bounties’ and in seventeenth century French traveler Francois Bernie observed and stated Egypt has been represented in every age as the finest and most fruitful country in the world, the country even has been favored to modern writers in terms of natural beauty ; but the knowledge I have acquired of Bengal during two visits paid to that kingdom inclines me to believe that pre-eminence ascribed to Egypt is rather due to Bengal” (Ministry of Information, GOB as cited in Hossain, 1999.). The major tourist attractions of Bangladesh mostly belong to the following sub-sections:

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Type Attractions

Sea-Beach i. Cox’s Bazar

ii. Patenga iii. Parki iv. Teknaf

v. Kuakata

Island i. St. Martin Island

ii. Moheshkhali iii. Sonadia Island

Hill-Tracts i. Rangamati - the lake district ii. Kaptai - The lake town

iii. Bandarban - the roof of Bangladesh iv. Khagrachhari - the hilltop town

v. Mymensingh

Historical Places i. Mausoleum of Father of The Nation ii. National Memorial

iii. Central Shahid Minar

iv. Martyred Intellectual Memorial v. National Poet's Grave

vi. Bahadurshah Park vii. Curzon Hall viii. Baldha Garden

ix. Suhrawardy Uddayan x. Old High Court Building xi. Natore - Dighapatiya Rajbari xii. World War II Cemetery xiii. Shilaidaha Kuthibari xiv. Sagordari, Jessore

xv. Mujibnagar Memorial xvi. Trishal

xvii. Gandhi Asram

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Archaeological Sites i. Wari Bateshwar ii. Mahasthangarh iii. Paharpur iv. Mainamati

v. Shait Gombudge Mosque vi. Kantaji's Temple

vii. Lalbagh Fort viii. Sonargaon

ix. Ahsan Manzil x. Sitakunda Forest/ National Park/

Wild-life sanctuaries

i. Sundarban-Khulna

ii. Bhawal National Park – Gazipur iii. Himchari National Park – Cox' Bazar

iv. Kaptai National Park – Chittagong Hill Tracts v. Lawachara National Park – Moulavibazar vi. Medha Kassapia National Park – Cox's Bazar vii. Modhupur National Park – Tangail/Mymensingh viii. Nijhum Dweep National Park – Noakhali

ix. Ramsagar National Park – Dinajpur x. Satchari National Park – Hobigonj

xi. Char Kukri-Mukri Wildlife Sanctuary – Bhola xii. Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary – Chittagong

xiii. Pablakhali Wildlife Sanctuary – Chittagong Hill Tracts xiv. Rema-Kelenga Wildlife Sanctuary – Hobigonj

xv. Sundarban (East) Wildlife Sanctuary – Bagerhat xvi. Sundarban (West) Wildlife Sanctuary – Satkhira xvii. Sundarban (South) Wildlife Sanctuary – Khulna xviii. Teknaf Game Reserve – Cox's Bazar

xix. Baldha Garden - Dhaka

xx. Dulahazara Safari Parks – Cox's Bazar xxi. Madhabkunda Eco-Park – Moulavibazar

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Sea Beaches: The world longest natural sandy sea beach (120 KM) is located in Bangladesh at Cox’s Bazar District covering a vast area paved with silver-colored natural sand, wonderful deep green hillocks at its coast, surfing waves, soaring cliffs, rare conch shells, Pagodas and Buddhist temples containing wonderful bronze-made statue of Buddha, innumerable coconut trees lining

xxii. National Botanical Garden – Dhaka

xxiii. Sitakunda Botanical Garden and Eco-park – Chittagong

Museums i. National Museum

ii. Liberation War Museum

iii. Bangabandhu Memorial Museum iv. Zia Memorial Museum

v. Ahsan Manzil Museum vi. Folk Art Museum vii. Science Museum

viii. Shilaidaha Kuthibari Museum ix. Ethnological Museum

Others i. Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban

ii. Banga Bhaban iii. Shakaribazar iv. Sadarghat

v. Ramna Garden

vi. National Botanical Garden vii. National Park

viii. Dhaka Zoological Garden ix. Batani Hill

x. DC Hill xi. Rajshahi xii. Jamuna Bridge xiii. Madhabkunda xiv. Tamabil

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with the coast-that makes a complete package of nature to view for the tourists at Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh and that is rarely available in any other parts of the world.

The second longest beach in Bangladesh is Kuakata comprising approximately 18 km long and 2 km wide and is located at 70 km away from the district headquarter of Pautuakhali. The beach is also called the beach of sunrise and sunset as the tourists can view an extra-terrestrial beauty of both sunrise and sunset from the same point of Kukata that is rarely seen in any other beaches of the world. The long beach in perfect natural setting offers an wide variety of attractions to the tourists-specially the deep green forest at close distance of the coast, huge number of coconut trees lining on the beach, the largest bronze made statue of Buddha, calm wave, migratory birds in winter, wide variety of fishes and marine lives, colourful life of Rakhain Tribe has made Kuakata a must-visit site for the tourist.

Another attractive natural sandy sea beach in Bangladesh is Parki which is located at Gahira and lies at Karnafuli river channel. The beach is about 300 feet to 350 feet wide with 20km tamarisk forest and 15 km long. The tourists can view the amazing view of Bay of Bengal and a famous river of Bangladesh called Karnafuli being at the same point and also a good number of ships and motor boats anchored at nearby docks. A wide range of marine life includes colorful crabs, different species of fishes are widely available at the beach. To see the fishermen catching fishes on beach is unforgettable experience at Parki beach.

Apart from the above mentioned major sea beaches, many more are also worth visiting Inani Beach at Ukhia, St. Martin Island, Patenga Beach in Chittagong are examples of them.

Sundarban: Bangladesh has been blessed with the largest mangrove forest of the world in its territory formed at the delta of Ganges, Brahmaputra and Megna rivers on the Bay of Bengal.

The total area of the Sundarbans is about one million ha, 60% of the entire forest is located in Bangladesh and the rest of it is in India (Sundarban Wildlife Sanctuaries, Bangladesh, undated).

The mangrove forest consists of numerous clusters of islands with an approximate area of 6216 Sq. kms within the Bangladeshi territory and further it is extended to the south-west in the Indian Territory which includes as area of 4800 sq kms (Kamal, 1992). The Sundarban is the habitat of world famous Royal Bengal tiger inhabited by varieties of beautiful trees and is criss-crossed by a network of rivers and creeks. The forest is named as Sundarban due to the Sundari (means

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beautiful) tree is the most common species of this forest. Considering the exceptional natural value of Sundarban mangrove forest, the World Heritage committee of UNESCO acknowledged the Sundarban of Bangladesh in the World Heritage list by their 21st session in 1997 and Bangladesh government declared the Sundarban as World Heritage Site in 1999 that it offers fabulous opportunities for tourism. For foreign visitors and for the expatriate community there are two principal attractions: firstly, the peace and tranquility of an unspoiled wilderness which is free from noise and commercial exploitation and also which is very often in immediate contrast with the cities they inhabit; and secondly, a relatively unknown and unexplored destination with a reputation for wildlife to be able to indulge in recreational activities such as wildlife watching, jungle walks and exploration (Moss, 1994). There are three wildlife sanctuaries in Sundarbans’ heritage site like Sundarban East Wildlife Sanctuary, Sundarban South Wildlife Sanctuary and Sundarban West Wildlife Sanctuary. A complex network of tidal waterways, mud flats and small islands of salt tolerant mangrove forests has interconnected these three sanctuaries. In addition to that, the region also includes the wildlife of cheetahs, spotted deer, crocodiles, monkeys, pythons, wild bears and hyenas. Sundarban is the forest of endless mystery. The Royal Bengal Tiger, spotted deer, monkeys, birds, beehives, imaginary gods, and demons have made the forest mysterious (Gazi, undated). Tourists have the opportunities to observe the tides flowing in two directions in the same creek and often tigers swimming across a river or huge crocodiles basking in the sun. Hiron Point known as Nilkamal, Katka and Tri Kona Island provide the best vantage points for watching tigers, deer, monkeys, crocodiles and birds.

Dublachar of Sundarban is a major point of a fishing village and where groups of spotted deer often come to graze there. Hossain (1999) mentioned that Sundarbans have much potentials of being the most attractive and resourceful attraction in the world and can be one of the most highly visited tourist-spots for the eco-tourists in the world if suitable accommodation, proper facilities and necessary transport networks are developed. He also added that by ensuring these arrangements , the unspoiled wilderness of the mysterious Sundarbans will attract a huge number of local and foreign tourists for seeing sights, watching wild lives and birds, seeing colorful forests, walking in the jungles, enjoying short-day excursions, meeting special interests and doing other activities.

There are some other forests like Sal forest in Mymensingh, Gazipur, Comilla region and lush

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green forest of Sylhet, Mymensingh and Chittagong Hill-tracts have the capabilities of attracting tourists from all over the world. (BPC, 2012)

St. Martin Island: St Martin (also called Narkel Jinigira) Island is one of the most attractive tourist attractions of Bangladesh with fascinating beauty of nature. The island is located at the north-eastern part of the Bay of Bengal and about 9 km at south of Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf peninsula. It is about 8 km west of the northwest coast of Myanmar, at starting Point of Naf River. The island is accompanied by a vast collection of marine lives and coconut trees at the coast. The blue and crystal clear water of St. Martin Island is so enjoyable to the tourist of home and abroad. A must visited place for the tourists who like spending holidays in a calm and healthy environment and view the amazing beauty of the Sea of St. Martin Island. (BPC, 2012) Archaeological Sites of Bangladesh: In the deltaic land of Bangladesh, the existence of any prehistoric phase was not assumed by archaeologists for a long time, although some stray finds of stone tools from different areas were known. But only in very recent time that widely spread traces of a fossil-wood tool making tradition have been detected. Early archaeological activities in Bangladesh areas were chiefly concerned with 'early historic' and 'early medieval' period remains. (Banglapedia, 2012)

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[Source: Banglapedia, National Encyclopidia of Bangladesh, 2012]

“THE PERCEPTION OF THE SWEDES ABOUT THE TOURISM OF BANGLADESH AND THE REALITY”

Karlstad University