People from home and abroad are losing interest in visiting tourist spots in the district for poor communication system and the absence of skilled tourist guides.
Sources said 80 percent of tourists from home and abroad go to visit the Sundarbans, the Unesco World Heritage site, via Khulna but they hardly get adequate facilities in Khulna city as the government did not take any initiative in this regard. As a result, the tourists now have to depend on private tour operators.
Many local tourists said substandard services with unskilled and less educated people cannot fulfill their needs, especially those who come from abroad.
They said the absence of standard hotels in the city is another reason why tourists are losing interest in visiting attractive spots here.
Sources at the Forest Department said manpower crisis is the main obstacle towards flourishing tourism in the district and they have no authentic information how many tourists travel the Sundarbans a year.
According to the 2014 policy taken by the government, except some tourist spots including Karamjal in the Sundarbans, the tourists have to take prior permission from the Forest department to go to the forest and they have to abide by some rules and regulations monitored by the department.
Kochi Jamaddar, president of Tour Operators’ Association, alleged the tourist spots in the district are plagued by various problems, including infrastructural lacking and manpower crisis. Besides, the security guards provided by the Forest department for river cruise in the Sundarbans are unskilled and aged ones.
Sources at the Archeology department here said there are some potential tourist spots like Tagore’s father-in-law’s house at Dakkhindihi, Pithabhoog and PC Roy’s house other the traditional Sundarbans but tourists do not get necessary services for lack of manpower.
Mohammd Helal Hossain, deputy commissioner of Khulna, said the construction work on a Parjatan Corporation office is going on in full swing and the local administration is trying hard to implement the project in time.
Infrastructure, manpower matter to tap Khulna’s tourism potentials
Khulna, Oct 7 (UNB) – Despite having huge prospects, the tourism industry in the district remained untapped due to the alleged apathy of the authorities concerned and lack of necessary infrastructures.