Tea resort is making in Bangladesh

The hospitality industry makes a boom driven by the private sector as an estimated cost of Tk 100 crore has been invested in the country's potential industry, thanks to the growing trend of visiting to tourist destinations. This is the biggest private investment in the sector that designed for setting up a six-storey resort named 'Grand Sultan Tea Resort and Golf' in Srimangal, the country's one of the major tourist destinations. Located at northeast of Dhaka and on way to Sylhet, the all- inclusive luxury resort is being built on 13.2 acres of pristine tea land of Srimangal. The resort would have 167 rooms, 20 suites ( including presidential), ball room, swimming pool, a golf course (nine holes), lake, and a eye- catching tea garden inside it. 'Certainly, the investment is sizeable and would give a further boost to the tourism industry in the country alongside projecting it heavily all over the world,' Khwaja Tipu Sultan, chairman of the GSTRG, a subsidiary of Excursion and Resorts Bangladesh Ltd, told the news agency. To attract foreign tourists, he said, a plantation scheme has been embarked on in Srimangal keeping the hills untouched so the tourists can feast their eyes from the nature's bounty. In the Southern Indian subcontinent, he hoped, this would be the best resort having all requirements as international standard and create employment opportunities for 300 people mostly locals. Back in 1980s, the textile industry was considered as home-based clothing activities and none could imagine that it would be turned into a vigorous one and which is now keeping the wheels of the economy active, said Tipu Sultan. The RMG has developed a lot and now the time has come to work for expansion of the tourism industry, he said and urged the investors to come forward to invest in this sector. A large number of people used to travel to a number of places of tourist attraction every year spending a huge amount of money, he pointed out and said the foreign exchange could be saved by nurturing Bangladesh's tourism sector. Tipu Sultan said a proposal would be forwarded to the government shortly with a plea for 'import tax reduction' as a large amount of necessary goods need to be imported from abroad. Civil aviation and tourism ministry sources said the tourism industry witnessed rapid growth with an investment of Tk 5,000 crore during the last five years and mostly from the private sector. The investments were made largely for the development of hotels, motels, resorts, amusement parks and restaurants at popular tourist destinations in Dhaka, Cox's Bazar, Chittagong, Sylhet, Bogra and Khulna that created some 40,000 jobs. Around 40 resorts and 15 amusement parks were built across the country during the said period, said the sources.