Masud Hossain wins award as Best Inbound Tour Operator

Dhaka: Md Masud Hossain, Managing Director of Bengal Tours Ltd, has received the Bangladesh Tourism Award 2026 for his contributions to inbound tourism, earning recognition as the Best Inbound Tour Operator of the year.

The award was presented by Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister M. Rashiduzzaman Millat at a ceremony held on October 3 at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the capital.

The Bangladesh Tourism Board introduced the awards for the first time ever to recognize contributions to the sector’s development, service quality, innovation and sustainability.

Hossain’s company has specialized in the Japanese market for more than two decades. “I started working with the Japan market from 1990-91, and Bengal Tours started working from 1999. Japan has always been our main market,” Hossain mentioned.

He claimed about 70-75 percent of Bengal Tours’ inbound customers are currently Japanese. In 2025-26, the company handled around 700 Japanese travelers. However, in 2012-13, before political instability, the 2016 Holey Artisan attack, and the Covid-19 pandemic, the number was more than 7,000 a year.

The 2026 awards recognize individuals, businesses and organizations across tourism-related fields, including hotels, tour operators, entrepreneurs, tour guides, tourism content creation and MICE initiatives.