True..alot needs to be done to improve Bangladesh's image.Its surprising how the amount of FDI that comes to BD is insignificant compared to our Exports,Remittance,GDP.We should seriously work on improving the FDI situation.
BRAND BANGLADESH-how can we promote a positive BD?
Given the reality of negative image of BD (which is causing us huge financial loss as we are not getting potential level of FDI, export and tourists) in the outer world, we should explore the strategy to build up a 'POSITIVE BRAND IMAGE' of BD. Some works have already been started in this regard at individual level but we need a well planned and integrated strategy to build a new BRAND IMAGE where all of us should participate. Please express your ideas and action plans about building a positive image of BANGLADESH.
well just for now, lets begin the thread with a related news--
Disseminating positive information about Bangladesh
Shahriar Khan
Bangladesh is getting a trickle of foreign direct investments (FDIs) whereas other countries in the neighbourhood continue to be its beneficiaries. China is remains the top FDI recipient. India and Pakistan are also receiving much more FDIs, without offering better conditions of investment or returns to the foreign investors.
A sound analysis would show that the biggest bottleneck is possibly the country's unfavourable image abroad. A positive macro-economic environment, sound infrastructure, easily trainable workers, good terms and conditions for repatriation of capital and profit by the investors, are among the factors that attract FDIs.
Bangladesh does not lack so much in these respects compared to its neighbours. In fact, its labour cost is lower than that of China or other countries in South Asia. Its infrastructure, needing improvement, are not so bad as to divert foreign investments on a large scale. Its macro-economy, with some slumps, has been stable on the whole for long, and improved in recent years. Besides, the aptitude of its workforce to adapt to the requirements and training of foreign-funded enterprises is noted to be relatively good. Certainly, the conditions for FDIs in Bangladesh can be improved or need to be improved, but it can be no reason for foreign investments to stay away from the country.
By now Bangladesh should have been a notable investment destination for the opportunities it extends. Why have not the investors responded then? It could be that potential investors are ignorant about what this country offers or they are demotivated by an image problem of the country.
Information gap about Bangladesh abroad is mainly responsible for the situation. Not many intending investors know that Bangladesh exports world class apparels, high quality shrimp and frozen foods. They don't know its potential to make and export a wide range of environmentally friendly products and the country's competitive labour costs.
Extensive dissemination of all these information by Bangladeshi missions, some 60 of them round the world, would have an impact in channelling FDIs into the country.
What does the External Publicity Wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in relation to this need? Why is this wing not enabled to carry out campaigns to this end? Nobody Knows the answer, for sure.
The local press and local correspondents of foreign media could report the success stories of Bangladesh in the economic spheres. The chamber bodies should work together to project the country by organising international seminars and holding exhibitions of Bangladeshi products abroad so that foreign investors could know about good rates of return from investment in Bangladesh.
There is a need to counter the negative campaign against Bangladesh carried out by some countries. These countries need to be exposed.
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=33140
well just for now, lets begin the thread with a related news--
Disseminating positive information about Bangladesh
Shahriar Khan
Bangladesh is getting a trickle of foreign direct investments (FDIs) whereas other countries in the neighbourhood continue to be its beneficiaries. China is remains the top FDI recipient. India and Pakistan are also receiving much more FDIs, without offering better conditions of investment or returns to the foreign investors.
A sound analysis would show that the biggest bottleneck is possibly the country's unfavourable image abroad. A positive macro-economic environment, sound infrastructure, easily trainable workers, good terms and conditions for repatriation of capital and profit by the investors, are among the factors that attract FDIs.
Bangladesh does not lack so much in these respects compared to its neighbours. In fact, its labour cost is lower than that of China or other countries in South Asia. Its infrastructure, needing improvement, are not so bad as to divert foreign investments on a large scale. Its macro-economy, with some slumps, has been stable on the whole for long, and improved in recent years. Besides, the aptitude of its workforce to adapt to the requirements and training of foreign-funded enterprises is noted to be relatively good. Certainly, the conditions for FDIs in Bangladesh can be improved or need to be improved, but it can be no reason for foreign investments to stay away from the country.
By now Bangladesh should have been a notable investment destination for the opportunities it extends. Why have not the investors responded then? It could be that potential investors are ignorant about what this country offers or they are demotivated by an image problem of the country.
Information gap about Bangladesh abroad is mainly responsible for the situation. Not many intending investors know that Bangladesh exports world class apparels, high quality shrimp and frozen foods. They don't know its potential to make and export a wide range of environmentally friendly products and the country's competitive labour costs.
Extensive dissemination of all these information by Bangladeshi missions, some 60 of them round the world, would have an impact in channelling FDIs into the country.
What does the External Publicity Wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in relation to this need? Why is this wing not enabled to carry out campaigns to this end? Nobody Knows the answer, for sure.
The local press and local correspondents of foreign media could report the success stories of Bangladesh in the economic spheres. The chamber bodies should work together to project the country by organising international seminars and holding exhibitions of Bangladeshi products abroad so that foreign investors could know about good rates of return from investment in Bangladesh.
There is a need to counter the negative campaign against Bangladesh carried out by some countries. These countries need to be exposed.
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=33140
1 - 20 of 24 Posts
^^
All the issues mentioned are in the article are quite right. When was the last time you saw a ad of/from Bangladesh in business/commerce related newspapers of magazines like The Financial Times (not Bangladesh), Wall Street Journal, Crain's, The Economist, Forbes, Money, or even Time, Newsweek? How about "Visit Bangladesh" ads in Travel magazines? I am yet to come across one. Yet, I see (have seen) such ads from India, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and many former communist/socialist european countries.
Another area of lacking is initiatives taken by small, medium and even individual entrepreneur from Bangladesh. Now a days, every Tom, Dick, and Harry, comes to the US from India to seek out business opportunities. Bangladeshi businessman should be doing the same.
All the issues mentioned are in the article are quite right. When was the last time you saw a ad of/from Bangladesh in business/commerce related newspapers of magazines like The Financial Times (not Bangladesh), Wall Street Journal, Crain's, The Economist, Forbes, Money, or even Time, Newsweek? How about "Visit Bangladesh" ads in Travel magazines? I am yet to come across one. Yet, I see (have seen) such ads from India, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and many former communist/socialist european countries.
Another area of lacking is initiatives taken by small, medium and even individual entrepreneur from Bangladesh. Now a days, every Tom, Dick, and Harry, comes to the US from India to seek out business opportunities. Bangladeshi businessman should be doing the same.
an uphill battle and the biggest issue is lack of entrepeneurs. Every thing is black money (kalo taka), corruption (ghoosh) and Elite ministers who care less about the real problems. The country ever dependent on foreign aid has become like a drug addict, dependent on foreing aid 
hno:
hno:Various statistics show that the country as a whole, is NOT so dependent on foreign aid anymore. The government finds it convenient to count on the foreign aid/grants owing to its weak system of revenue (taxes of all kinds, duties, fees, etc.) collection. With efficient revenue collection and boosting exports (manpower included), Bangladesh like Indonesia, and some South American countries, could say goodbye to IMF and make WB/ADB borrowing, marginal.an uphill battle and the biggest issue is lack of entrepeneurs. Every thing is black money (kalo taka), corruption (ghoosh) and Elite ministers who care less about the real problems. The country ever dependent on foreign aid has become like a drug addict, dependent on foreing aid
By now there are many entrepeneurs both within and without who require proper stewardship and encouragement to throw their full force behind improving the economy of Bangladesh and make it a positive brand, outside. We need to examine what the governments and public-private partnerships in Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, et.al. did in the last 20/25 years to transform their economies as success stories and emulate them.
Of course, before we get there we need a stable government whose heart is in nation building.
i beleive that.................... With efficient revenue collection and boosting exports (manpower included), Bangladesh like Indonesia, and some South American countries, could say goodbye to IMF and make WB/ADB borrowing, marginal.
....................
I personally try to talk positively about Bangladesh but I also try to keep it realistic. If you tell people in developed countries something that doesn't jive with whatever misinformation they hear in the Western media -- then they have problems with your credibility. Sad but true.
Like I was saying in another thread -- Pictures do wonders.
I believe some of us should take the time to cross-post pictures from the 'Beautiful Bangladesh' thread over to the SSC General Photo forum -- there is an Indian Thread already in there called 'India: One picture per post'.
This will make people see that we're not just what we're known as -- i.e. not overcrowded or dirty.
Like I was saying in another thread -- Pictures do wonders.
I believe some of us should take the time to cross-post pictures from the 'Beautiful Bangladesh' thread over to the SSC General Photo forum -- there is an Indian Thread already in there called 'India: One picture per post'.
This will make people see that we're not just what we're known as -- i.e. not overcrowded or dirty.
This is the Indian Images thread I've been talking about. please take a look. Every picture has a locator map.
India: One Picture per post
India: One Picture per post
Two years back I tried to put my thoghts for REBRANDING BANGLADESH in the following ariticle written for SSC....But some how I didn't post it...Now I am posting it here (I am sorry in advance as you may find it too long, a bit illorganized and unedited as I am not a good writer but you will understand what I am trying to say. Please read it phase by phase in several days and please add ideas and critisize it )
THE GAP IN THE PERCEPTION ABOUT BD IN THE OUTER WORLD AND
WHAT PLACE BRANDING HAS GOT TO DO WITH BANGLADESH?
The issue is the ‘perception gap’ about Bangladesh in the outside world. In seventies, Bangladesh was termed as a ‘bottomless basket’ of the world by the western media. Till now, the country’s image has not improved significantly. Till today, Bangladesh is portrayed in the western media as country of cyclones, floods, with no significant economic activities etc. But Bangladesh has come a long way from the situation it had in seventies and eighties which is not highlighted appropriately in the western media. Bangladesh now without any major help with the outside world handles the natural disasters. In eighties, almost 100% of the budget of Bangladesh was dependent on foreign aids, now Bangladesh it self provides 60-70% of its budget from internal sources. It has now some established industries like Readymade Garments and Pharmaceutical Industry. Bangladesh is one of the major exporters of clothes in the world. Bangladesh has achieved tremendous development in rural socio-economy. According to UNDP, in 2006, Bangladesh has performed well ahead of its neighboring countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal in the area of child mortality, gender parity at work, children education, empowerment of women, sanitation etc. For contributing in the rural development, one Bangladeshi organization (Grameen Bank) and its founder Dr. Muhammad Yunus have received the Noble Peace Prize, 2006. The country has now a strong private corporate environment where millions of hardworking people work.
REMEDY OF ‘PERCEPTION GAP’ IS REBRANDING BANGLADESH IN OUTSIDE WORLD:
The new Bangladesh Brand will be targeted to General public of the people from different parts of the world such as
Western world:
USA and Canada.
UK and north European countries.
Australia
Far East and ASEAN countries:
Japan, South Korea, China
Malayasia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam
Middle east:
Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait
South Asia:
India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Nepal
Others:
Iran and turkey
If positive rebranding is possible in western world is possible, rebranding in far east and ASEAN contries and south asia will be an easy task because more or less those countries are influenced by the western perception. Middle East requires a special branding strategy where perception differs from that of western countries.
Current perception about Bangladesh in the western world: (TO BE CONFIRMED BY A SURVEY CONDUCTED IN THOSE COUNTRIES):
Country as general:
1. Bangladesh is a poor country, much poorer than its neighbors like India and Pakistan.
2. most of the parts of Bangladesh go under flood water every year.
3. it is a Muslim country like Pakistan, afghanstan with many fundamental mullahs and women in BD wear burkhas like middle east.
4. Dhaka its capital is like a slum capital like many impoverished African countries (according to experience with SKYSCRAPER CITY website (the leading forum related to world cities), where many of the westerners couldn’t believe after watching the pictures, that Dhaka has so many highrises and glass buildings.
5. Bangladesh is the most corrupt nation and attitude of all people will reflect that.
6. Bangladesh does not have educated human resources like its neighboring country India.
This negative perception in the public’s mind of the western world does harm to us in many ways. people in their childhood get the general impression about a country and later many of them become either a tourist or investor of that country. And in this way westerners perceive us as a country of not worthy of visiting, investing or respecting.
As an investment worthy country:1. Bangladesh is such poor that it might not have much investment opportunities.
2. Bangladesh has no educated or skilled human resource.
3. As a Muslim country, it is very conservative hence they even not think of it worthy for business visit.
4. It has got violent political backlashes often.
As a tourist destination:
1. It is a small and overpopulated country, therefore nothing much to see.
2. It is a Muslim and conservative society, therefore nothing to do here as a fun loving tourists.
3. It has significant health hazards like malaria, dengue etc.
4. As people are poor, there is always a chance of being harassed by beggars, and touts there.
5. There are fundamental terrorist groups there and there is significant risk of security for westerners.
6. Dhaka is a very small, polluted city where there is nothing available from medicine to day to day things that westerners use.
7. There is not many of a tourist spots there.
8. No western foods are available in Bangladesh and it does not have quality hotels to reside in.
NOW HOW THE PERCEPTION OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC ABOUT BANGLADESH CAN BE CHANGED IN A SHORT TERM?
Well, some of the perceptions of the general public in western world about Bangladesh are true and there is no argument to hide those shames but many of them are a bit over exaggeration. And besides downsides, Bangladesh has also some positive features that are not reflected at all in the existing perception. For instance,
1. Bangladesh is no more a ‘bottomless basket’ case. There were times in seventies and early eighties when almost 100% of Bangladesh’s budget was dependent on foreign aid. Now Bangladesh itself provides 60% - 70% of its budgets from internal sources and this contribution is increasing day by day (source: Ministry of Finance, http://www.mof.gov.bd/budget/afs.html
2. Bangladesh is often flooded during monsoon, but it does not mean all of Bangladesh goes under water (it goes but very rarely, only in 1988 and 1998 BD experienced such flood in recent history). There are many areas which are usually free from flood water in particular all the tourist spots like, Chittagong hill tracts region, Cox’s bazaar and St. martin island, Sylhet tea estates and North Bengal never go under water.
Bangladesh certainly had natural disasters like flood, cyclone etc. but it is the resilient people of Bangladesh has who fought back and now a days without much support of the outer world, the country itself handles those natural calamities.
3. Bangladesh is certainly poor but not much poorer compared to its neighbors. For instance, according to CIA fact book the comparison GDP par capita in PPP (purchasing power parity) for Bangladesh and India are-
Bangladesh $ 2100 and Pakistan $ 2400
source- https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbo...os/bg.html#Econ
and https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbo...os/pk.html#Econ
One top of that, according to UNDP, Bangladesh is performing tremendously in rural development and was well ahead of its neighbors in 2006 in the areas of child mortality, health and sanitation, gender parity at work, gender parity at school etc.
Source: http://www.un-bd.org/bgd/index.html and
http://www.apnic.net/mailing-lists/s-asia-...0/msg00008.html
For contributing in the rural development, one Bangladeshi organization (Grameen Bank) and its founder Dr. Muhammad Yunus have received the Noble Peace Prize, 2006.
4. Bangladesh is a Muslim country but it is not an extreme one. It is very moderate Muslim country and practice of islami shariah is here a personal issue rather a legal or state issue. Therefore, here use of burkha for women, attitude towards the participation of women at work, living daily life is completely considered as personal and people has freedom to choose their way of life.
5. Yes Bangladesh is one of the most corrupt nations in the world, which is known to the entire world. But what is not known to the outside world, that
this corruption is confined to government offices and political parties. The general public here is very hardworking, welcoming, helpful (according to tourists at Lonely Planet’s tourist forum, ‘thorn tree’, one of the world’s most famous tourist forums)…they have nothing to do with corruption. A comment on the general people of Bangladesh by a western tourist can be noted in this regard-
“
My recent trip to Bangladesh
I just returned from a 14 day trip through Bangladesh and it was totally amazing. I did Dhaka, Chittagong, Hill Tracts, Sundarbans, Barisal and nearby villages (took "The Rocket" steamer down from Dhaka to Sundarbans). While Dhaka (and Chittagong) has its shortcomings (pollution of all sorts being the biggest pain), it was an experience I've never had before - not in India, not in Nepal, Myanmar, Central America - there is no place like Bangladesh. Its not really the natural scenery which amazed me, but the people. The most friendly people I have come across - ever. If you like taking portraits, you'll have 140 million opportunities (that is if you have enough time to snap the total population - ok, deduct about 100 people who may decline your quest to snap them).
Mahmud and his brother did an awesome job to plan my trip and took care of me almost every minute I spent in Bangladesh. These two gentlemen should be awarded with - how about a Nobel Peace Prize!
Met up with my friend "Zoltan" and what a character! He made my trip even more special (see his detailed reports about Bangla on this branch).
Anyhow...I truly enjoyed Bangladesh and as it is totally virgin territory (no tourists), its was a truly special visit! GO explore -- before the mass tourists arrive! I'm off to Vietnam tomorrow and then to South Africa. Will post Bangladesh pics sometime in late January.
Source: http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/messagep...p;iCountryId=64
6. Though Bangladesh has political instability, it is neither a communist country nor it has military ruler. It has some kind of democracy for last 15 years, freedom of speech and a strong independent print and electronic media.
7. Bangladesh has developed a strong private corporate culture and it has many skilled and well educated technical and managerial human resources who are not only working in the country but also working around the world including developed countries. For instance there are Bangladeshi engineers working in Microsoft, IBM, AT &T, NASA etc. Bangladeshi medical consultants are working in all major medical services in USA and UK. Pharmacists are working in Phizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Teachers and research scholars are working in leading universities of the world including Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge etc.
Check- http://www.csebuet.org/alumni/batch91.html
http://neurosurgery.mgh.harvard.edu/fellows/hassan/
http://www.usask.ca/alumni/alumnisite/publ...010792346.shtml
http://www.cm.lsu.edu/People/faculty/Sarker/index.html
Bangladeshi technologists and managerial staffs work in significant numbers in the Middle East.
8. Though Bangladesh is a very small country in the world map, it has diversification in landscapes, culture and religion. It can offer different experience for the tourists. For instance it offers eco tourism to Chittagong hill tracts where tourists go to live with ethnic tribal areas for several days in remote hills and lead the local life without help of the civilized world.
BD can offer a steam ship tour through the river and Sundarbans (the world’s largest mangrove forest- the home of Royal Bengal Tiger) which is a unique experience to see the rural Bangladesh. Or, it can offer the calmness of Cox’s bazaar and st. Martin Island tropical beaches where there is no rush of tourists and still virgin in terms of mass tourism.
Check: http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/trave...html?ref=travel,
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/categori...p;iCountryId=64
9. There are also some economic achievements of Bangladesh. Bangladesh managed to develop a huge Readymade Garments industry employing thousands of women. It is now a leading exporter of clothes in North America and in EU (one in every 3 t-shirts in EU is made in Bangladesh).
Source: http://www.newagebd.com/2006/jul/29/index.html
10. Bangladesh has a disciplined and well trained armed forces, which has contributed immensely to the world peace by participating in the UN peace-Keeping missions. BD has the highest number of peace keepers working for UN.
Source: http://www.defenselink.mil/Transcripts/Tra...anscriptID=3334
All these positive points and reality should be informed to general public in a way that will change their perception about Bangladesh.
HOW TO INPUT THE ABOVEMENTIONED INFORMATION TO THE BRAND ‘BANGLADESH’ FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC OF THE WESTERN WORLD:
(WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT THIS IMAGE PROBLEM?)
1. We know every big city in the western world has some kind of big festivals at some point of time in a year such as London has its LONDON CARNIVAL; Sydney has its own festival.
Reference: http://www.londoncarnival.co.uk/
http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/
http://www.culturela.org/
Bangladeshi community has to participate on this festival at a grand level demonstrating Bangladesh’s culture while doing so distributing free gifts (i.e. Bangladeshi Icons like royal Bengal tiger, canoes, booklets about the tourism opportunities and positive things about Bangladesh).
A formal organization (which we are going to form) containing professional event management and advertising people from Bangladesh, students and any interested Bangladeshi volunteers living in those western countries, and if possible a representative of Bangladesh embassy will coordinate the whole participation in those festivals.
2. Perception about a country in western world in the mind of a person is usually grown at young age because when the go to school they read about different countries and areas of the world, again when they are a bit older they get confirmation about their perception by how the media there portray the image of the country.
The young generation now a day in western world use internet as a tool for interaction with others. There are numerous ‘blogs’, ‘forums’ and sites like, thorn tree (for tourists), skyscrapercity (for city scapes and cities), YOUTUBE (for showing videos of any kind to the outside world) which are used by the millions of youths all around the world. These sites can be utilized to convey the positive message about the country to the youths of the western world.
And I can assure you this is a very effective tool and its effectiveness is proven. I can mention a couple of example here. In the Bangladesh section (inside Indian subcontinent) of ‘Thorn Tree’ forum of LONELY PLANET, (one of the world’s most favorite tourism BLOG), there is a person called MR. Mahmud, who himself without out of only patriotism tried to portray Bangladesh as a good tourist country and offered free help to the tourists who are interested about Bangladesh. His strategy worked and he managed to bring many western tourists to Bangladesh. It is really a success story. Kudos to Mr. Mahmud.
Another instance is a Bangladeshi guy living in US whose nick in Skyscrapercity forum (the world’s city forum ) is ‘TMAC’, TAN and other patriots have posted thousands of pictures of Dhaka, rural areas and tourist sites in the Skyscrapercity and has been able to change the perception of the many people in a positive way about how Bangladesh looks. Many of them were impressed to see Bangladesh’s modern urban looks (of Dhaka) and natural beauty that otherwise had the negative impression about our beloved country.
Check- http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=55649
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=97
3. Bangladesh needs to send some strong message to the outside world about its attitudes and handling of corruption, fundamentalism etc. it has done that about handling fundamentalism by controlling the extremism very fast which was appreciated by the western world very much.
In case of curving corruption, so far government failed to take any meaningful action. But Transperency International -TA (a Germany based think tank) is fighting against it all alone. It is revealing corruption statistics and building public awareness against it by various promotions. The activities of TA has to be highlighted in the western media…..giving them an idea that ‘we know this is a problem, and we earnestly are fighting against it, government did not help us, but we the public are concerned and taking actions by ourselves’.
Source: www.oecd.org/dataoecd/37/27/37263492.ppt
4. More and more success stories of Bangladeshis has to be framed in documentary videos like, ‘Dr. yunus’s success with Grameen Bank Model’, ICDDRB’S success about eradicating cholera, Mr. Leepu’s success about exotic car designs (it is already shown in Discovery channel all-around the world) etc. And then making arrangement to show these documentaries to the main stream western TV channels, if necessary even on payment.
5. For tourism, there should be a One Stop Information Service in Dhaka airport under a private management where, there will be counselors who will suggest the tourists according to tourist’s budget, days available and type of tourism he/she wants. And this whole service has to be free of cost; if possible it has to be provided by the help of sponsorship of local corporate companies like telecommunication farms or multinational companies and banks.
PLAN OF ACTION:
Now whole promotion of rebranding has to be done as an integrated action so that,
one activity becomes complementary to the another. For instance, the participation in festivals of the different cities has to be coincided with promoting Bangladesh in different FORUMS and western medias.
To do this, a formal organization has to be formed which will co-ordinate the whole promotion thing. If possible, the government of Bangladesh, local media and local corporate companies’ participation should be ensured to solve funding problem, to get the help of the government and non government institutions. Say if government approve and provide the fund necessary it will also be possible to hire lobbyists to promote the image of Bangladesh in the parliaments of western countries and hence get new opportunities of bilateral benefits. We have to convince about the simple idea to all in Bangladesh that, if Bangladesh’s image is increased, its export order will increase, its people will get more visas to western countries, people living abroad will take pride to introduce themselves as Bangladeshis and the government of BD will get more respect and acceptability to the western countries for which it always concerned about.
To promote the idea of the rebranding to the politicians (ruling party), private sponsors, and media, seminars, face to face negotiations has to be done. They should also give examples of companies like INTERBRAND which are engaged in such place rebranding.
Reference: http://www.dinarstandard.com/marketing/Interbrand071606.htm
THE GAP IN THE PERCEPTION ABOUT BD IN THE OUTER WORLD AND
WHAT PLACE BRANDING HAS GOT TO DO WITH BANGLADESH?
The issue is the ‘perception gap’ about Bangladesh in the outside world. In seventies, Bangladesh was termed as a ‘bottomless basket’ of the world by the western media. Till now, the country’s image has not improved significantly. Till today, Bangladesh is portrayed in the western media as country of cyclones, floods, with no significant economic activities etc. But Bangladesh has come a long way from the situation it had in seventies and eighties which is not highlighted appropriately in the western media. Bangladesh now without any major help with the outside world handles the natural disasters. In eighties, almost 100% of the budget of Bangladesh was dependent on foreign aids, now Bangladesh it self provides 60-70% of its budget from internal sources. It has now some established industries like Readymade Garments and Pharmaceutical Industry. Bangladesh is one of the major exporters of clothes in the world. Bangladesh has achieved tremendous development in rural socio-economy. According to UNDP, in 2006, Bangladesh has performed well ahead of its neighboring countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal in the area of child mortality, gender parity at work, children education, empowerment of women, sanitation etc. For contributing in the rural development, one Bangladeshi organization (Grameen Bank) and its founder Dr. Muhammad Yunus have received the Noble Peace Prize, 2006. The country has now a strong private corporate environment where millions of hardworking people work.
REMEDY OF ‘PERCEPTION GAP’ IS REBRANDING BANGLADESH IN OUTSIDE WORLD:
The new Bangladesh Brand will be targeted to General public of the people from different parts of the world such as
Western world:
USA and Canada.
UK and north European countries.
Australia
Far East and ASEAN countries:
Japan, South Korea, China
Malayasia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam
Middle east:
Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait
South Asia:
India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Nepal
Others:
Iran and turkey
If positive rebranding is possible in western world is possible, rebranding in far east and ASEAN contries and south asia will be an easy task because more or less those countries are influenced by the western perception. Middle East requires a special branding strategy where perception differs from that of western countries.
Current perception about Bangladesh in the western world: (TO BE CONFIRMED BY A SURVEY CONDUCTED IN THOSE COUNTRIES):
Country as general:
1. Bangladesh is a poor country, much poorer than its neighbors like India and Pakistan.
2. most of the parts of Bangladesh go under flood water every year.
3. it is a Muslim country like Pakistan, afghanstan with many fundamental mullahs and women in BD wear burkhas like middle east.
4. Dhaka its capital is like a slum capital like many impoverished African countries (according to experience with SKYSCRAPER CITY website (the leading forum related to world cities), where many of the westerners couldn’t believe after watching the pictures, that Dhaka has so many highrises and glass buildings.
5. Bangladesh is the most corrupt nation and attitude of all people will reflect that.
6. Bangladesh does not have educated human resources like its neighboring country India.
This negative perception in the public’s mind of the western world does harm to us in many ways. people in their childhood get the general impression about a country and later many of them become either a tourist or investor of that country. And in this way westerners perceive us as a country of not worthy of visiting, investing or respecting.
As an investment worthy country:1. Bangladesh is such poor that it might not have much investment opportunities.
2. Bangladesh has no educated or skilled human resource.
3. As a Muslim country, it is very conservative hence they even not think of it worthy for business visit.
4. It has got violent political backlashes often.
As a tourist destination:
1. It is a small and overpopulated country, therefore nothing much to see.
2. It is a Muslim and conservative society, therefore nothing to do here as a fun loving tourists.
3. It has significant health hazards like malaria, dengue etc.
4. As people are poor, there is always a chance of being harassed by beggars, and touts there.
5. There are fundamental terrorist groups there and there is significant risk of security for westerners.
6. Dhaka is a very small, polluted city where there is nothing available from medicine to day to day things that westerners use.
7. There is not many of a tourist spots there.
8. No western foods are available in Bangladesh and it does not have quality hotels to reside in.
NOW HOW THE PERCEPTION OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC ABOUT BANGLADESH CAN BE CHANGED IN A SHORT TERM?
Well, some of the perceptions of the general public in western world about Bangladesh are true and there is no argument to hide those shames but many of them are a bit over exaggeration. And besides downsides, Bangladesh has also some positive features that are not reflected at all in the existing perception. For instance,
1. Bangladesh is no more a ‘bottomless basket’ case. There were times in seventies and early eighties when almost 100% of Bangladesh’s budget was dependent on foreign aid. Now Bangladesh itself provides 60% - 70% of its budgets from internal sources and this contribution is increasing day by day (source: Ministry of Finance, http://www.mof.gov.bd/budget/afs.html
2. Bangladesh is often flooded during monsoon, but it does not mean all of Bangladesh goes under water (it goes but very rarely, only in 1988 and 1998 BD experienced such flood in recent history). There are many areas which are usually free from flood water in particular all the tourist spots like, Chittagong hill tracts region, Cox’s bazaar and St. martin island, Sylhet tea estates and North Bengal never go under water.
Bangladesh certainly had natural disasters like flood, cyclone etc. but it is the resilient people of Bangladesh has who fought back and now a days without much support of the outer world, the country itself handles those natural calamities.
3. Bangladesh is certainly poor but not much poorer compared to its neighbors. For instance, according to CIA fact book the comparison GDP par capita in PPP (purchasing power parity) for Bangladesh and India are-
Bangladesh $ 2100 and Pakistan $ 2400
source- https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbo...os/bg.html#Econ
and https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbo...os/pk.html#Econ
One top of that, according to UNDP, Bangladesh is performing tremendously in rural development and was well ahead of its neighbors in 2006 in the areas of child mortality, health and sanitation, gender parity at work, gender parity at school etc.
Source: http://www.un-bd.org/bgd/index.html and
http://www.apnic.net/mailing-lists/s-asia-...0/msg00008.html
For contributing in the rural development, one Bangladeshi organization (Grameen Bank) and its founder Dr. Muhammad Yunus have received the Noble Peace Prize, 2006.
4. Bangladesh is a Muslim country but it is not an extreme one. It is very moderate Muslim country and practice of islami shariah is here a personal issue rather a legal or state issue. Therefore, here use of burkha for women, attitude towards the participation of women at work, living daily life is completely considered as personal and people has freedom to choose their way of life.
5. Yes Bangladesh is one of the most corrupt nations in the world, which is known to the entire world. But what is not known to the outside world, that
this corruption is confined to government offices and political parties. The general public here is very hardworking, welcoming, helpful (according to tourists at Lonely Planet’s tourist forum, ‘thorn tree’, one of the world’s most famous tourist forums)…they have nothing to do with corruption. A comment on the general people of Bangladesh by a western tourist can be noted in this regard-
“
My recent trip to Bangladesh
I just returned from a 14 day trip through Bangladesh and it was totally amazing. I did Dhaka, Chittagong, Hill Tracts, Sundarbans, Barisal and nearby villages (took "The Rocket" steamer down from Dhaka to Sundarbans). While Dhaka (and Chittagong) has its shortcomings (pollution of all sorts being the biggest pain), it was an experience I've never had before - not in India, not in Nepal, Myanmar, Central America - there is no place like Bangladesh. Its not really the natural scenery which amazed me, but the people. The most friendly people I have come across - ever. If you like taking portraits, you'll have 140 million opportunities (that is if you have enough time to snap the total population - ok, deduct about 100 people who may decline your quest to snap them).
Mahmud and his brother did an awesome job to plan my trip and took care of me almost every minute I spent in Bangladesh. These two gentlemen should be awarded with - how about a Nobel Peace Prize!
Met up with my friend "Zoltan" and what a character! He made my trip even more special (see his detailed reports about Bangla on this branch).
Anyhow...I truly enjoyed Bangladesh and as it is totally virgin territory (no tourists), its was a truly special visit! GO explore -- before the mass tourists arrive! I'm off to Vietnam tomorrow and then to South Africa. Will post Bangladesh pics sometime in late January.
Source: http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/messagep...p;iCountryId=64
6. Though Bangladesh has political instability, it is neither a communist country nor it has military ruler. It has some kind of democracy for last 15 years, freedom of speech and a strong independent print and electronic media.
7. Bangladesh has developed a strong private corporate culture and it has many skilled and well educated technical and managerial human resources who are not only working in the country but also working around the world including developed countries. For instance there are Bangladeshi engineers working in Microsoft, IBM, AT &T, NASA etc. Bangladeshi medical consultants are working in all major medical services in USA and UK. Pharmacists are working in Phizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Teachers and research scholars are working in leading universities of the world including Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge etc.
Check- http://www.csebuet.org/alumni/batch91.html
http://neurosurgery.mgh.harvard.edu/fellows/hassan/
http://www.usask.ca/alumni/alumnisite/publ...010792346.shtml
http://www.cm.lsu.edu/People/faculty/Sarker/index.html
Bangladeshi technologists and managerial staffs work in significant numbers in the Middle East.
8. Though Bangladesh is a very small country in the world map, it has diversification in landscapes, culture and religion. It can offer different experience for the tourists. For instance it offers eco tourism to Chittagong hill tracts where tourists go to live with ethnic tribal areas for several days in remote hills and lead the local life without help of the civilized world.
BD can offer a steam ship tour through the river and Sundarbans (the world’s largest mangrove forest- the home of Royal Bengal Tiger) which is a unique experience to see the rural Bangladesh. Or, it can offer the calmness of Cox’s bazaar and st. Martin Island tropical beaches where there is no rush of tourists and still virgin in terms of mass tourism.
Check: http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/trave...html?ref=travel,
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/categori...p;iCountryId=64
9. There are also some economic achievements of Bangladesh. Bangladesh managed to develop a huge Readymade Garments industry employing thousands of women. It is now a leading exporter of clothes in North America and in EU (one in every 3 t-shirts in EU is made in Bangladesh).
Source: http://www.newagebd.com/2006/jul/29/index.html
10. Bangladesh has a disciplined and well trained armed forces, which has contributed immensely to the world peace by participating in the UN peace-Keeping missions. BD has the highest number of peace keepers working for UN.
Source: http://www.defenselink.mil/Transcripts/Tra...anscriptID=3334
All these positive points and reality should be informed to general public in a way that will change their perception about Bangladesh.
HOW TO INPUT THE ABOVEMENTIONED INFORMATION TO THE BRAND ‘BANGLADESH’ FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC OF THE WESTERN WORLD:
(WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT THIS IMAGE PROBLEM?)
1. We know every big city in the western world has some kind of big festivals at some point of time in a year such as London has its LONDON CARNIVAL; Sydney has its own festival.
Reference: http://www.londoncarnival.co.uk/
http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/
http://www.culturela.org/
Bangladeshi community has to participate on this festival at a grand level demonstrating Bangladesh’s culture while doing so distributing free gifts (i.e. Bangladeshi Icons like royal Bengal tiger, canoes, booklets about the tourism opportunities and positive things about Bangladesh).
A formal organization (which we are going to form) containing professional event management and advertising people from Bangladesh, students and any interested Bangladeshi volunteers living in those western countries, and if possible a representative of Bangladesh embassy will coordinate the whole participation in those festivals.
2. Perception about a country in western world in the mind of a person is usually grown at young age because when the go to school they read about different countries and areas of the world, again when they are a bit older they get confirmation about their perception by how the media there portray the image of the country.
The young generation now a day in western world use internet as a tool for interaction with others. There are numerous ‘blogs’, ‘forums’ and sites like, thorn tree (for tourists), skyscrapercity (for city scapes and cities), YOUTUBE (for showing videos of any kind to the outside world) which are used by the millions of youths all around the world. These sites can be utilized to convey the positive message about the country to the youths of the western world.
And I can assure you this is a very effective tool and its effectiveness is proven. I can mention a couple of example here. In the Bangladesh section (inside Indian subcontinent) of ‘Thorn Tree’ forum of LONELY PLANET, (one of the world’s most favorite tourism BLOG), there is a person called MR. Mahmud, who himself without out of only patriotism tried to portray Bangladesh as a good tourist country and offered free help to the tourists who are interested about Bangladesh. His strategy worked and he managed to bring many western tourists to Bangladesh. It is really a success story. Kudos to Mr. Mahmud.
Another instance is a Bangladeshi guy living in US whose nick in Skyscrapercity forum (the world’s city forum ) is ‘TMAC’, TAN and other patriots have posted thousands of pictures of Dhaka, rural areas and tourist sites in the Skyscrapercity and has been able to change the perception of the many people in a positive way about how Bangladesh looks. Many of them were impressed to see Bangladesh’s modern urban looks (of Dhaka) and natural beauty that otherwise had the negative impression about our beloved country.
Check- http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=55649
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=97
3. Bangladesh needs to send some strong message to the outside world about its attitudes and handling of corruption, fundamentalism etc. it has done that about handling fundamentalism by controlling the extremism very fast which was appreciated by the western world very much.
In case of curving corruption, so far government failed to take any meaningful action. But Transperency International -TA (a Germany based think tank) is fighting against it all alone. It is revealing corruption statistics and building public awareness against it by various promotions. The activities of TA has to be highlighted in the western media…..giving them an idea that ‘we know this is a problem, and we earnestly are fighting against it, government did not help us, but we the public are concerned and taking actions by ourselves’.
Source: www.oecd.org/dataoecd/37/27/37263492.ppt
4. More and more success stories of Bangladeshis has to be framed in documentary videos like, ‘Dr. yunus’s success with Grameen Bank Model’, ICDDRB’S success about eradicating cholera, Mr. Leepu’s success about exotic car designs (it is already shown in Discovery channel all-around the world) etc. And then making arrangement to show these documentaries to the main stream western TV channels, if necessary even on payment.
5. For tourism, there should be a One Stop Information Service in Dhaka airport under a private management where, there will be counselors who will suggest the tourists according to tourist’s budget, days available and type of tourism he/she wants. And this whole service has to be free of cost; if possible it has to be provided by the help of sponsorship of local corporate companies like telecommunication farms or multinational companies and banks.
PLAN OF ACTION:
Now whole promotion of rebranding has to be done as an integrated action so that,
one activity becomes complementary to the another. For instance, the participation in festivals of the different cities has to be coincided with promoting Bangladesh in different FORUMS and western medias.
To do this, a formal organization has to be formed which will co-ordinate the whole promotion thing. If possible, the government of Bangladesh, local media and local corporate companies’ participation should be ensured to solve funding problem, to get the help of the government and non government institutions. Say if government approve and provide the fund necessary it will also be possible to hire lobbyists to promote the image of Bangladesh in the parliaments of western countries and hence get new opportunities of bilateral benefits. We have to convince about the simple idea to all in Bangladesh that, if Bangladesh’s image is increased, its export order will increase, its people will get more visas to western countries, people living abroad will take pride to introduce themselves as Bangladeshis and the government of BD will get more respect and acceptability to the western countries for which it always concerned about.
To promote the idea of the rebranding to the politicians (ruling party), private sponsors, and media, seminars, face to face negotiations has to be done. They should also give examples of companies like INTERBRAND which are engaged in such place rebranding.
Reference: http://www.dinarstandard.com/marketing/Interbrand071606.htm
Very good points Sayem...you have suggested a very practical and effective approach to dealing with Bangladesh's image problem.
Wow Sayem!!
Very well thought out great post and I agree with all points.
But I believe that the Bangladesh Govt. so far does not have a strong resolve to promote the country we have to do this ourselves in the following manner,
1. Promote well-written and well-illustrated travel-blog websites (with attached forums) ourselves with Bangladeshis actively helping tourists by answering their questions about where to go eat, where to stay, local attractions etc. We can also rate the commercial establishments (according to experience) in the site directly. This is possible in a forum format.
I realize we've been doing some of that here (posting pictures) but this is skyscraper related website and I don't know how much of it can be done from here.
I hang out at the 'Thorntree' forum sometimes and there are increasing numbers of people interested in Bangladesh. If we have a Bangladesh Travel forum then it will be easy to help these people.
2. Lobby govt. depts. to improve the travel infrastructure. For example -- if I want to go to Khulna on a 'Rocket', the SadarGhat terminal has to have some sane facility to board that paddle-wheeler. I don't think the current facility at Sadarghat (or Gabtali for that matter) is clean or organized enough except for the very adventurous tourists.
We need convenient and clean facilities (maybe not shiny marble but clean enough) otherwise we will only gather bad impressions and will not get repeat visitors.
Warmth of Bangladeshis are okay but infrastructure is important. Look at Bangkok, Pattaya and other tourist hangouts where they get back the same people back from Europe every summer. In Cox's Bazaar we have some semblance of it coming up but this needs to be followed through at all tourist locations.
3. Actively prevent 'cheaters' and 'touts' from deceiving tourists by promoting 'honest' tourist-operators and keeping a list of 'cheaters' on the website. We should also have 'local posters' available in case there are local issues that need answers.
4. we can involve local eco-tourism groups so they can escort tourists for a fee (this will help their ecology cause as well).
5. All of this also needs to happen from the private sector -- Depending on Parjatan has made all of us grow old by at least thirty years....they are IMHO hopeless.
Very well thought out great post and I agree with all points.
But I believe that the Bangladesh Govt. so far does not have a strong resolve to promote the country we have to do this ourselves in the following manner,
1. Promote well-written and well-illustrated travel-blog websites (with attached forums) ourselves with Bangladeshis actively helping tourists by answering their questions about where to go eat, where to stay, local attractions etc. We can also rate the commercial establishments (according to experience) in the site directly. This is possible in a forum format.
I realize we've been doing some of that here (posting pictures) but this is skyscraper related website and I don't know how much of it can be done from here.
I hang out at the 'Thorntree' forum sometimes and there are increasing numbers of people interested in Bangladesh. If we have a Bangladesh Travel forum then it will be easy to help these people.
2. Lobby govt. depts. to improve the travel infrastructure. For example -- if I want to go to Khulna on a 'Rocket', the SadarGhat terminal has to have some sane facility to board that paddle-wheeler. I don't think the current facility at Sadarghat (or Gabtali for that matter) is clean or organized enough except for the very adventurous tourists.
We need convenient and clean facilities (maybe not shiny marble but clean enough) otherwise we will only gather bad impressions and will not get repeat visitors.
Warmth of Bangladeshis are okay but infrastructure is important. Look at Bangkok, Pattaya and other tourist hangouts where they get back the same people back from Europe every summer. In Cox's Bazaar we have some semblance of it coming up but this needs to be followed through at all tourist locations.
3. Actively prevent 'cheaters' and 'touts' from deceiving tourists by promoting 'honest' tourist-operators and keeping a list of 'cheaters' on the website. We should also have 'local posters' available in case there are local issues that need answers.
4. we can involve local eco-tourism groups so they can escort tourists for a fee (this will help their ecology cause as well).
5. All of this also needs to happen from the private sector -- Depending on Parjatan has made all of us grow old by at least thirty years....they are IMHO hopeless.
What do you guys think should be the slogan for Bangladesh? Example:
India- Incredible India
Thailand- Amazing Thailand
Malaysia-- Malaysia truly Asia
Also we should setup an information desk with nice booklets on tourist spots,hotel and transportation in the 3 major airport (Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet).
India- Incredible India
Thailand- Amazing Thailand
Malaysia-- Malaysia truly Asia
Also we should setup an information desk with nice booklets on tourist spots,hotel and transportation in the 3 major airport (Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet).
Bountiful Bangladesh
Beautiful Bangladesh
Bangladesh -- Beyond Expectations
Bangladesh -- Chaotic Colours
Bangladesh -- (Bountiful) Shades (of Green)
Bangladesh -- Destination Open Skies
Bangladesh -- Shining Faces
Bangladesh -- Unspoilt Paradise
Bangladesh -- Nature's Showcase
Bangladesh -- Eco Paradise
Beautiful Bangladesh
Bangladesh -- Beyond Expectations
Bangladesh -- Chaotic Colours
Bangladesh -- (Bountiful) Shades (of Green)
Bangladesh -- Destination Open Skies
Bangladesh -- Shining Faces
Bangladesh -- Unspoilt Paradise
Bangladesh -- Nature's Showcase
Bangladesh -- Eco Paradise
Remember guys I was talking about infrastructure.
I was researching How Costa Rica promotes tourism and they offer the following that are sort of standard expectations (soft adventure experiences) for tourists from developed countries (hence all tourists). These facilities also exist in Thailand. A list,
Water-based entertainment:
- surfing (Cox's Bazaar)
- sailing (Needs a small jetty next to CXB airport)
- windsurfing (ditto as above)
- scuba diving (St. Martin, Himchhari)
- snorkeling (St. Martin, Himchhari)
- Sea fishing (meaning fishing rod equipped large speedboats for sports-fishing)
- water skiing (needs smaller boats CXB)
- sea kayaking (St. Martin)
- river rafting (from Class I, II maybe hill tracts?)
- parasailing (needs smaller boats CXB)
Additionally, other than beach activity:
- birdwatching (Lawachhera and Haor areas in SYLHET and Sunderbans)
- canopy or zip line tours (CTG Hill tracts, Srimangal)
- mountain biking (any large peak to downhill but needs to be safe for novices)
- hiking (ditto as above)
- bungee jumping (I'm not so sure about this one)
- jeep safaris (Hill tracts, sriMongal)
- hot air ballooning (Northern Bangladesh away from cities)
- horseback riding (Hill tracts)
- some golf facilities (CTG is ideal for this)
Most of these above can be done by private entrepreneurs. People in Bangladesh need to start these before foreigners section off large portions of land for 'private use'.
In fact I think we shouldn't let foreigners own property at all. They can have FDI but majority owners should be Bangladeshi (similar to rules in the Middle east).
I was researching How Costa Rica promotes tourism and they offer the following that are sort of standard expectations (soft adventure experiences) for tourists from developed countries (hence all tourists). These facilities also exist in Thailand. A list,
Water-based entertainment:
- surfing (Cox's Bazaar)
- sailing (Needs a small jetty next to CXB airport)
- windsurfing (ditto as above)
- scuba diving (St. Martin, Himchhari)
- snorkeling (St. Martin, Himchhari)
- Sea fishing (meaning fishing rod equipped large speedboats for sports-fishing)
- water skiing (needs smaller boats CXB)
- sea kayaking (St. Martin)
- river rafting (from Class I, II maybe hill tracts?)
- parasailing (needs smaller boats CXB)
Additionally, other than beach activity:
- birdwatching (Lawachhera and Haor areas in SYLHET and Sunderbans)
- canopy or zip line tours (CTG Hill tracts, Srimangal)
- mountain biking (any large peak to downhill but needs to be safe for novices)
- hiking (ditto as above)
- bungee jumping (I'm not so sure about this one)
- jeep safaris (Hill tracts, sriMongal)
- hot air ballooning (Northern Bangladesh away from cities)
- horseback riding (Hill tracts)
- some golf facilities (CTG is ideal for this)
Most of these above can be done by private entrepreneurs. People in Bangladesh need to start these before foreigners section off large portions of land for 'private use'.
In fact I think we shouldn't let foreigners own property at all. They can have FDI but majority owners should be Bangladeshi (similar to rules in the Middle east).
Bhai Nayeem, there are standard brochure cases in _every motel_ loaded with brochures in the US. I realize one can't give away brochures in Bangladesh maybe because of printing costs -- but there can be a person giving away brochures and acting as agents for tour buses and tourist facilities near every hotel registration desk. This is very common in heavily-frequented tourist hotels in Hawaii and elsewhere.Also we should setup an information desk with nice booklets on tourist spots,hotel and transportation in the 3 major airport (Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet).
Pretty complete..................
Water-based entertainment:
- surfing (Cox's Bazaar)
- sailing (Needs a small jetty next to CXB airport)
- windsurfing (ditto as above)
- scuba diving (St. Martin, Himchhari)
- snorkeling (St. Martin, Himchhari)
- Sea fishing (meaning fishing rod equipped large speedboats for sports-fishing)
- water skiing (needs smaller boats CXB)
- sea kayaking (St. Martin)
- river rafting (from Class I, II maybe hill tracts?)
- parasailing (needs smaller boats CXB)
Additionally, other than beach activity:
- birdwatching (Lawachhera and Haor areas in SYLHET and Sunderbans)
- canopy or zip line tours (CTG Hill tracts, Srimangal)
- mountain biking (any large peak to downhill but needs to be safe for novices)
- hiking (ditto as above)
- bungee jumping (I'm not so sure about this one)
- jeep safaris (Hill tracts, sriMongal)
- hot air ballooning (Northern Bangladesh away from cities)
- horseback riding (Hill tracts)
- some golf facilities (CTG is ideal for this)
......................................................
With very little light pollution, you can add "star gazing" to the list.
3. Bangladesh is certainly poor but not much poorer compared to its neighbors. For instance, according to CIA fact book the comparison GDP par capita in PPP (purchasing power parity) for Bangladesh and India are-
Bangladesh $ 2100 and Pakistan $ 2400
source- https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbo...os/bg.html#Econ
and https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbo...os/pk.html#Econ
GDP per capita PPP in 2007 was:
Bangladesh: $1299.695
Pakistan: $2591.883
Source: International Monetary Fund
Always better to look for economic data from websites of global financial institutions instead of the outdated CIA Country Studies site.
Impressive, well done manbilRemember guys I was talking about infrastructure.
I was researching How Costa Rica promotes tourism and they offer the following that are sort of standard expectations (soft adventure experiences) for tourists from developed countries (hence all tourists). These facilities also exist in Thailand. A list,
Water-based entertainment:
- surfing (Cox's Bazaar)
- sailing (Needs a small jetty next to CXB airport)
- windsurfing (ditto as above)
- scuba diving (St. Martin, Himchhari)
- snorkeling (St. Martin, Himchhari)
- Sea fishing (meaning fishing rod equipped large speedboats for sports-fishing)
- water skiing (needs smaller boats CXB)
- sea kayaking (St. Martin)
- river rafting (from Class I, II maybe hill tracts?)
- parasailing (needs smaller boats CXB)
Additionally, other than beach activity:
- birdwatching (Lawachhera and Haor areas in SYLHET and Sunderbans)
- canopy or zip line tours (CTG Hill tracts, Srimangal)
- mountain biking (any large peak to downhill but needs to be safe for novices)
- hiking (ditto as above)
- bungee jumping (I'm not so sure about this one)
- jeep safaris (Hill tracts, sriMongal)
- hot air ballooning (Northern Bangladesh away from cities)
- horseback riding (Hill tracts)
- some golf facilities (CTG is ideal for this)
Most of these above can be done by private entrepreneurs. People in Bangladesh need to start these before foreigners section off large portions of land for 'private use'.
In fact I think we shouldn't let foreigners own property at all. They can have FDI but majority owners should be Bangladeshi (similar to rules in the Middle east).
Thanks brotherImpressive, well done manbil
wow wow guys.........I am grateful to you all about your positive responses to my ideas....the best thing about SSC is, we may all disagree with each other but in the deepest of our heart we all know at the end of the day we want to see BD as a prosperous(not necessarily financially) country with happiest people in the world. And MANBIL.....your slogans are just too cute.....lets just arrange a vote to select one of those as our slogan for BD and mail our suggetion the newly formed Tourism Board of BD.
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