~story by Mikey Leung~

At the Guide Tours’ Hillside Resort, you awake to a stunning view of hills poking out from the clouds. See more photos of Bandarban here.

It’s absolutely outrageous to say this, but be prepared to be followed by the police where ever you go while visiting one of Bangladesh’s most attractive destinations, second only to the Sundarbans.

It happened to a group of us last week (all foreign tourists). Before we even knew it, we were being followed by three uniformed police officers carrying aging rifles. They were not aggressive or overbearing, in fact they were usually quite kind and curious like all Bangladeshis are, and they were simply doing their job. Nonetheless, we didn’t formally request their presence, but we got it whether we wanted it or not. It did sour our experience of Bandarban—I felt bad mostly for my group.

The bottom line:

We do not want to scare anyone with this article, as Bandarban is one of Bangladesh’s must-see destinations. We simply want intrepid travellers to be prepared for what they will encounter.

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Tags: Bandarban,Bangladesh,Chittagong Hill Tracts,Responsible Travel,security advice
Categories: Chittagong Hill Tracts, Destinations, FAQ
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~story and photo by Belinda Meggitt~

Originally published in the New Age, Feb. 13, 2008. More photos available here.

For a country that blossoms with national pride, the majority of Bangladeshis fail to respect the country’s natural wonders.

St Martin’s Island, where once thousands of migratory birds sought refuge, turtles laid eggs and coral grew, now bustles with migratory tourists and growing piles of plastic. Economic development drives tourism, but what tourists and hotel owners fail to acknowledge is their impact. The gold rush of tourism to St Martin’s Island will be short-lived unless changes are made immediately.

Only a few years ago, the island was an ecological refuge. ‘It was the best place for turtle nesting and even schoolchildren protected the nests,’ recalls Elisabeth Mansur, Chief Executive Officer of Guide Tours. ‘The biodiversity was truly amazing.’

Tourists were still able to visit, but it was a form of adventure tourism. The rocky journey – via a country boat crammed with the islands supplies – limited the number of tourists, as did the one beach hut. But the tourists that came were rewarded by natural beauty, an experience that didn’t resemble a Thai beach Mecca. Now, four large vessels ply the crossing daily during high season. Most tourists stay anywhere from three hours to a little over 24. It’s not hard to imagine why the island is disappearing in a state of disrepair.

Mansur says eco-tourism was discussed at length before the hotel explosion in 2005. There was a plan to maintain St Martin’s biodiversity.

‘Private industry sat for many months making a good development plan of how soft-ecotourism and responsible travel could develop,’ says Mansur. ‘But that’s when the government went ahead and opened the land rights for people from the mainland.’

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Tags: Bangladesh,Responsible Travel,St. Martin's Island,Tourism,Travel
Categories: Destinations, Editorials
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While the beach at Cox’s Bazaar becomes more and more crowded with people this tourist season, very few know visitors know that there is a refugee camp not far from Bangladesh’s much-heralded beach paradise.

And the people at this camp need help. World Food Programme Volunteer Lindy Hogan writes:

As most of you know, I work with Burmese refugees who are living in
two camps near the Bangladesh-Burma border (approx 27,000 refugees). Recently a library has been established in each camp but the problem is that they hardly have any books in them!

So I’m writing to request for book donations. Any type of material would be useful - kids books, novels, educational materials, textbooks, magazines etc - so long as it is culturally appropriate.

English or Bengali, new or second hand is fine.

Thought I’d get this out as I know a few of you are coming down this way in the next couple of months - so you can leave books with me then.

Thanks for your help on this everyone.

Cheers,
Lindy

VIDA Volunteer
World Food Programme
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

To contact Lindy, please write to her by e-mail letting her know of your visit: lindymay [AT] gmail.com.

Tags: Bangladesh,Burma,Cox's Bazaar,Myanmar,Refugee Camps,Responsible Travel
Categories: Destinations, Responsible Travel
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Bangladesh will become a traveler’s destination, but not the way you imagine, argues Mikey Leung.

This article originally published in the Daily Star’s Forum Magazine at this weblink.

The number of reasons that travelers avoid Bangladesh cannot even be counted on two hands.

On foreign television screens, riots and floods are the leading actors; their supporting cast is no less extraordinary. Pseudo-Islamic extremism garners a major role, while abject poverty plays like a forgettable soundtrack. Interminable corruption adds to the atmosphere of a Shakespearean tragedy: the characters always suffer inescapably under the weight of their own extraordinary gluttony.

For a country whose world reputation seems to be constantly drowning, it is hard to imagine that Bangladesh will one day become a traveler’s destination on par with its neighbours. How is this possible? In five years, the Bangladesh travel industry will be totally unrecognisable compared to the industry of today.

Tourism in Bangladesh is inevitable

Consider the Chinese tourism experience, a path this nation already treads. Little more than 10 years ago, Chinese domestic tourism was infantile, in the same way that Bangladeshi tourism is now embryonic. Powered by an upwardly mobile middle class, the industry evolved new tourism products while promoting existing destinations. The market was literally captive: very few Chinese had the means to travel outside China. Even today, very few do.

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Tags: Bangladesh,Responsible Travel,Tourism,Travel,voluntourism
Categories: Editorials
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