Bangladesh's largest tourism expo kicks off

DHAKA, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- A three-day tourism expo kicked off here on Thursday with a view to boosting the country's travel industry business.

The Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh (ATAB) organized the event titled "Bangladesh International Travel and Tourism Expo" at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, also known as the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center.

Bangladeshi Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Md Mahbub Ali inaugurated the expo.

ATAB President SN Manzur Murshed said Bangladesh has witnessed a significant infrastructural transformation in recent years, which is crucial to attracting more tourists from abroad. "Proper branding of the local places and heritage is a must for development of the cross-border tourism here," he added.

Talking to Xinhua on the sidelines of the expo, Yue Liwen, cultural counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Bangladesh, said there is still a lot of potential for tourism development between Bangladesh and China, hoping that the two sides can work together to promote more exchanges of tourists between the two countries.