Dhaka: The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary General Taleb Rifai is set to hand over an open letter on travel and tourism to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday in recognition to Bangladesh’s tourism ability of boosting socioeconomic growth and creating employments.

The “Open Letter on Travel and Tourism”, initiated by the UNWTO and World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), calls upon heads of state and government around the world to acknowledge tourism’s key role in socioeconomic growth and prioritizing the sector higher in national policies.

“The UNWTO secretary general will hand over the open letter to our honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina like other heads of state in recognition to the country’s tourism ability of socioeconomic growth and creating jobs,” Chief Executive Officer of Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) Akhtaruzzaman Khan Kabir said on Sunday.

The UNWTO and WTTC present an open letter to heads of state and government worldwide highlighting the importance of travel and tourism. In turn, the heads of state and government will accept this letter in acknowledgement of the relevance of travel and tourism in facing today’s global challenges.

Kabir said the handing over of the UNWTO open letter to the Prime Minister manifests that Bangladesh has the all potentials to flourish its tourism.

The UNWTO secretary general will arrive here tomorrow to attend a two-day international conference on Buddhist Circuit.

Thirteen Buddhist-populated countries will take part in the conference slated for October 27-28 to prepare an action-based roadmap to improve Buddhist tourism in Bangladesh.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the high-level conference at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre to be joined by monks from different Buddhist-populated nations.

The Bangladesh Tourism Board CEO said Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon held a meeting with the UNWTO secretary general early this year in Cambodia and sought the UN support to attract Buddhist tourists in Bangladesh to see over 500 Buddhists archeological sites including world renowned Paharpur.

After the meeting, as per the advice of the UNWTO, the Bangladesh government has decided to host the international conference on Buddhist Circuit.

“The Buddhist archeological sites are our ready tourist products...we need an action-oriented roadmap to build infrastructure and a global standard planning to attract Buddhist tourists,” Kabir said.

He said the Bangladesh government expects that the UNWTO will involve international donors and investors in improving infrastructure centering Buddhist settlements here as per the roadmap of the conference.

The conference, he said, will help build a platform for Buddhist tourism with networking of tourism players of regional countries, especially among Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka.