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The Namche Conference: May 24-26,
2003 Participants and Presentations:
Md. Shah Newaz |
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Md Shah Newaz (Chittagong, Bangladesh) Professor, Institute of Forestry & Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong. Email: snewazm@yahoo.com; and Md. Kamrul Anowar Chowdhury (Chittagong, Bangladesh) Institute of Forestry & Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong. Abstract: Potentials of Ecotourism Develepment in Cox's Bazar District: A Case Study in Teknaf, Bangladesh Eco-tourism along with the conventional tourism is the third biggest industry in the world in terms of money investment and employment generation. But Bangladesh is far behind because of the lack of proper assessment if its tourism potentialities and initiatives from the government and non-government organization though the country has a great prospect of developing eco-tourism based on its diverse natural resources. An exploratory survey of the existing potentials of tourism development in Teknaf, the southeast part of Bangladesh was carried out over a period of seventeen months using a semi-structured interview schedule. From the study it was found that Saint Martin’s Island, Teknaf sea beach, Shah-pari Island and Ma Thin coupe are the most tourist attractive places. Number of domestic tourists is much higher than that of foreign tourists. The peak season of tourism is December to April i.e. the winter season. Irrespective of nationality, 76% tourists preferred this season followed by rainy season (22%). The number of male tourists is twice than that of female tourists in case of domestic visitors, and in case of foreign visitors, the figure is slightly higher for the male. Most of the domestic visitors visited the area solely for recreation while foreign tourists visited the area for both recreation and business purposes. From the study it was found that people in service and businessmen are the most potential tourists, which were 46% and 32% of the total tourists, respectively of which 44% have graduation and 22% have post-graduation. Most of the tourists (40%) were from the age group of 20-30 years and most of them were from the mid-income group (Tk.10, 000-15,000/month) and lower-income group (Tk. <5000/month). Tourism activities in the study area have a significant impact on the local people’s income generation. The study showed that during off-season, most of the local people’s income increased to Tk. 4000-Tk.10,000 per month in peak tourist season. Local people could increasingly involve themselves in tourism related income generation activities but their poor literacy rate (12%) is seemed to be an impediment in exploring the prospects of this industry. Almost all the tourists (86%) claimed that they faced problems of varying degree. It was found that 92% tours were self-organized and only 8% by different tour operators. Local people seemed to help the visiting tourists mostly by providing transportation and information. The results are discussed in the context of further development of eco-tourism activities in Teknaf
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