Initiatives have been taken to adopt an integrated development plan to transform the world’s longest natural sea beach, Cox’s Bazar, into an international standard tourism hub. To this end, a meeting was held at 1 pm on Thursday (July 23) at the conference room of the Finance Department of the Bangladesh Secretariat to review the future integrated development action plan for the tourism sector of Cox’s Bazar and the district.
The meeting, chaired by Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, was attended by Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Afroza Khanam, MP, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, MP, Land Minister Md. Mizanur Rahman Minu, MP, Housing and Public Works Minister Zakaria Taher, MP, and Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintu, along with senior officials of the concerned ministries and organizations.
At the meeting, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Afroza Khanam said that the government is working to turn Cox’s Bazar, the world’s longest sea beach, into an international tourism hub. To this end, initiatives have already been taken to modernize the hotels of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation in Cox’s Bazar. She emphasized on following an environment-friendly eco-tourism model for the development of Cox’s Bazar and sought the cooperation of all concerned in implementing this goal.
The minister also said that the inauguration of Cox’s Bazar International Airport is expected to be possible soon. Once the airport is launched, Cox’s Bazar will become a more attractive destination for foreign tourists and new horizons will be opened for the expansion of international tourism.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said that a new master plan for Cox’s Bazar will be formulated in line with the proposal of the Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister. This master plan will include a plan to develop Cox’s Bazar as a modern and world-class tourism hub. The meeting also discussed in detail the construction of a visitors’ point in the Marine Drive area and the establishment of a Blue Economy University.
At the end of the meeting, Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury directed to immediately start the work of formulating an integrated master plan to develop Cox’s Bazar as a smart city based on the proposals of the stakeholders.
Senior officials of various government agencies including the Finance Department, Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministries were present at the meeting.
