Tourism ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will assemble here in November this year to talk about tourism potential among 57-member states and discuss ways to contribute better to the economies of member states.
Bangladesh sees the 10th Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM) as an ‘opportunity’ to promote her tourism potential and heritages to the Muslim world.
The conference will take place from November 12 to 14 at a city hotel with the theme – ‘Promoting Regional Integration through Tourism’.
The conference, according to officials, will discuss core issues – development of Islamic tourism; progress on tourism infrastructure projects; OIC tourism fairs; and OIC City of Tourism Award (2019 and 2020).
“We’ll soon invite all the tourism ministers of OIC member states. We expect maximum participation,” Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon told UNB on Friday.
He said the OIC understands Bangladesh has huge potential in the tourism sector and encouraged Bangladesh to host the event and to discuss ways cooperation among member states.
“There’s huge tourism potential in the Member States. Together we can call for greater attention to tourism sector considering its role in employment generation and growing contribution to the economy,” a senior official told UNB.
He said Bangladesh is taking preparations to host the 10th OIC Tourism Ministers’ meeting here successfully.
A Foreign Ministry senior official said the OIC chief also discussed the issue with the Foreign Minister during his meeting held here on Thursday.
The OIC chief assured of OIC’s cooperation to that end, the official told UNB mentioning that Dr Othaimeen appreciated Bangladesh’s increasingly important role in OIC and thanked its decision to host the 10th Tourism Ministers’ meeting in November next.
Tourism provides 1 in every 11 jobs globally and that OIC Member States received about 147 million tourists in 2013, compared with 156 million tourists in 2009 and that the return on tourism recorded a tangible increase of up to $20 billion, according to OIC data obtained by UNB.
In the Tourism Ministers meeting, the Member States are likely to adopt a declaration on the development of tourism in OIC Member States for the coming years, officials said.
In the 9th Tourism Minister’s meeting, the ministers endorsed the selection Madina al-Munawarra and the Iranian city of Tabriz as the capitals of Islamic Tourism for 2017 and 2018 respectively.
The member states will discuss ways to further strengthen efforts to create awareness about tourist attractions in OIC countries.
They are also likely to discuss how all member states and relevant institutions can work more effectively to promote Islamic tourism through hotels, resorts, halal foods, entertainment and sports facilities.
