BBS, BTB jointly working to develop Tourism Satellite Account
Fahmida Akhtar, Secretary
of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, said this while addressing a
World Tourism Day 2026 program held on October 3 at the Bangladesh-China
Friendship Center in Dhaka. The event focused on “Digital Transformation and
Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Tourism.”
The move is aimed at quantifying
the economic contribution of tourism, as the authorities aim to build a more
comprehensive statistical base for policymaking, investment and sustainable development
of the sector.
A satellite account is a
supplementary statistical framework that links to core national accounts to
focus on a specific sector.
The exercise is designed
to measure tourist expenditure, travel patterns and the consumption of
tourism-related goods and services, while producing statistics that are
comparable with international standards.
The data collection will
run quarterly throughout the 2026-27 financial year, covering July-September,
October-December, January-March and April-June.
The surveys will cover
residents travelling within Bangladesh, Bangladeshi nationals travelling
abroad, and foreign nationals and non-resident Bangladeshis visiting the
country through airports, land ports and seaports.
The program will also
capture visitors travelling for leisure, business, medical treatment,
education, religious purposes and visits to friends and relatives.
Transit passengers and
crew members who do not pass through immigration will, however, be excluded.
