Advisory brief · prepared for the Director Commercial / Additional Secretary of Tourism · Jun 2026

The grand perspective: dollars, arrivals & yield

Two truths run through every chart here. Volume and value are separate axes — who arrives is not who spends. And money out dwarfs money in — Bangladesh runs a structural travel deficit. Every figure is flagged for confidence; where the state does not measure something, we say so rather than invent it.

High confidenceMedium confidenceLow confidenceModelled estimateNo official data
USD 9.5B
Total Travel & Tourism GDP (2023)
10.6% of GDP
2.14M
T&T jobs (2023)
≈3% of employment
≈USD 440M
Inbound receipts (2023)
~5% of T&T spend
≈USD 620–700
Est. spend / foreign arrival
analyst-derived, not published

The headline: domestic spend is ~20× inbound

Where the money actually is (2023, USD billions)

High confidence
Sources:WTTC 2024 Economic Impact Report (via Bangladesh Monitor)

WTTC 2023. Domestic visitor spending is ~20x inbound — the near-term commercial prize for BPC is domestic, not foreign arrivals.

Inbound receipts trend

Money into Bangladesh from foreign visitors (USD millions)

Medium confidence
Sources:World Bank — International tourism receipts (ST.INT.RCPT.CD)UNWTO via worlddata.info — Bangladesh tourism

World Bank series ends 2020; 2021–24 from UNWTO (different methodology). Bangladesh Bank's primary 'Travel' BoP credit line is CAPTCHA-locked and should be pulled by hand to confirm.

What counts as a 'tourist'? Three incompatible numbers

The ~650k figure is foreign entries — not holidaymakers

Medium confidence
Foreign-passport entries (BTB, 2023)650,000

All entries: diaspora + business + MICE + job-holders

UNWTO overnight visitors (2019)323,000

International standard; ~half the BTB count

True leisure / holiday tourists (2023)27,500

Industry estimate (~25–30k) — ~4% of entries

Sources:Bangladesh Tourism Board 2023 arrivals (via TBS)World Bank — International tourist arrivals (ST.INT.ARVL)BBS Tourism Satellite Account FY2018-19 (via TBS)

Three coexisting numbers measure different things. BTB counts ALL foreign-passport entries; UNWTO counts overnight visitors; only ~25–30k are true leisure tourists.

Arrivals by source country — the volume axis

Only India is a published number; the rest is rank-order

Low confidence
Sources:Bangladesh Tourism Board 2023 arrivals (via TBS)

Only India (~290k, ~45%) is a published figure. UK/US/Canada/Australia/Italy follow in rank order with NO published counts — aggregated here as one honest 'not quantified' wedge.

Visitors by reason — the volume axis

Share of people (≈650k arrivals, 2023)

Modelled estimate
Sources:BBS Tourism Satellite Account FY2018-19 (via TBS)Bangladesh Tourism Board 2023 arrivals (via TBS)

Estimate. Anchored on BBS TSA FY19 (NRB ≈80% of inbound 'tourists') and the sourced ~25–30k leisure figure; remaining categories are a reasoned allocation of ~650k arrivals. No official immigration purpose table is published.

Inbound dollars by reason — the value axis

Share of ~USD 440M receipts (modelled)

Modelled estimate
Sources:BBS Tourism Satellite Account FY2018-19 (via TBS)WTTC 2024 Economic Impact Report (via Bangladesh Monitor)

Illustrative model: inbound receipts (~USD 440M) split by purpose using the per-visitor spend multipliers shown. No source publishes receipts by purpose — this transforms the headcount estimate by transparent spend assumptions to show that VALUE and VOLUME are different axes.

Why they're separate axes: people vs dollars

Same seven purposes — share of visitors vs share of spend

Modelled estimate
Spend multipliers used:VFR ×0.8Business ×2.2Employment ×1.1Official ×1.8MICE ×2Leisure ×1.3Religious ×0.6

Built by applying the per-visitor spend multipliers (shown below) to the headcount estimate. Business is ~15% of people but ~28% of dollars; VFR is ~60% of people but ~42% of dollars. The gap between the two bars is the commercial story.

Country × reason matrix

The two axes crossed — directional intensity

Modelled estimate
VFRBusinessEmploymentOfficialLeisure
India
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●
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●
UK (British-Bangladeshi)
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●
●
●
USA
●●●
●
●
●
●
Canada / Australia
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●
●
●
China
●●●
●
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Gulf / Middle East
●
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●
–minorsignificantdominant

Illustrative/directional. Reads how each source market splits across purposes — the two axes do not track each other. Diaspora markets (UK/US) are almost all VFR; China is almost all business; India spreads across business, VFR and official.

Yield gap: receipts per arrival

Bangladesh near the regional floor (USD, 2024)

Medium confidence
Sources:Sri Lanka Tourism — Annual Statistical Report 2024PIB India — Foreign tourist arrivals & receipts 2024Visit Maldives — 2024 tourism receiptsUNWTO via worlddata.info — Bangladesh tourism

The double gap: Bangladesh trails on yield as well as volume. Sri Lanka earns ~7× from ~3× the arrivals.

Volume gap: international arrivals

Millions of arrivals (2024)

Medium confidence
Sources:Sri Lanka Tourism — Annual Statistical Report 2024PIB India — Foreign tourist arrivals & receipts 2024Visit Maldives — 2024 tourism receiptsUNWTO via worlddata.info — Bangladesh tourism

2024 figures (arrivals & receipts), order-of-magnitude. Bangladesh's problem is a DOUBLE gap — near the regional floor on BOTH volume and yield. Years are mixed where official data lags; per-arrival is indicative. Vietnam receipts include domestic (non-comparable) — flagged.

The grand perspective: money out ≫ money in

Inbound receipts vs outbound leakage (USD billions/yr)

Medium confidence
450k–800k
Bangladeshis seeking treatment abroad / yr
≈450k in 2023 (+48% YoY)
≈USD 4–5B/yr
Forex outflow (medical)
FY19 baseline ≈USD 1.2B
50–60%
Share going to India
≈482k in 2024
→ Thailand / China
Post-Aug-2024 shift
after India visa curbs
Sources:UNWTO via worlddata.info — Bangladesh tourismBangladesh Health Alliance — outbound medical tourismWorld Bank — International tourism receipts (ST.INT.RCPT.CD)

Money OUT vastly exceeds money IN. Outbound medical (~$4–5B) and total outbound travel spend (~$1.4B, 2019) dwarf inbound receipts (~$0.44B). Medical is a FOREX LEAK, not inbound tourism — strategically central for BPC but the opposite sign.

Why Bangladesh underperforms

Ranked 109th of 119 on the WEF Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024 — last in Asia-Pacific, down 9 places since 2021.

High confidence
Visa friction
Visa-on-arrival limited to a short nationality list, air-arrivals only, discretionary; mature e-visa only launching 2025–26.
Aviation capacity
Biman fleet down to 19 aircraft (only 10 long-haul); Dhaka–Manchester suspended Feb 2026. A USD 3.7B Boeing order is the fix.
Hotel supply
Dhaka has just 9 five-star hotels; Cox's Bazar lacks international-standard rooms and global-chain presence — yet Dhaka 5-stars run ~30% occupancy (a demand problem too).
Image & safety
US advisory Level 3 (Reconsider Travel); Chittagong Hill Tracts Level 4 (Do Not Travel). 2024 uprising, floods and CHT unrest deterred visitors.
Marketing budget
Tourism gets <0.1% of the national budget. Sri Lanka set Rs 1.3B and Nepal Rs 1.6B for branding (2025–26); Bangladesh has no equivalent.
Site infrastructure
BTB concedes 'no proper capacity planning'; unplanned concrete is eroding Cox's Bazar. Padma Bridge + Dhaka–Cox's Bazar rail are the bright spots.
Sources:WEF Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024 (via New Age)Dhaka Tribune — tourism sector endures tough 2024

Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation — the operator

Founded November 1972 · the commercial estate

Medium confidence
Verify leadership: The brief names Ghani-ul Azam as Director Commercial; BPC's Jan 2026 Commercial Conference publicly named Jamil Ahmed (Director, Commercial) and Saema Shahin Sultana (Chairman). Confirm the current title-holder via parjatan.gov.bd.
Operating estate
53 tourist facilities — hotels, motels, youth inns, restaurants, picnic spots (Cox's Bazar, Kuakata, Rangamati, Bandarban, Sylhet-Jaflong, Bogura, Rajshahi…).
Duty-free
3 shops at Dhaka airport + 1 at Chittagong (since 1975).
Training
National Hotel & Tourism Training Institute (NHTTI), Dhaka, est. 1974.
FY2024-25 result
≈Tk 22 crore operating profit (disclosed Jan 2026). Two COVID years cost ≈Tk 20.6 crore.
Mandate split
BPC = commercial operator; BTB = marketing/regulation and the 'Beautiful Bangladesh' brand. Pan Pacific Sonargaon is NOT a BPC property.
UNESCO product strength
  • Sundarbans — Natural (1997), world's largest mangrove, Royal Bengal tiger
  • Somapura Mahavihara, Paharpur — Cultural (1985)
  • Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat — Cultural (1985)

First Tourism Master Plan (IPE Global, draft 2023, stuck in review) targets 5.57M tourists/yr by 2041 across 53 clusters. Sabrang & Naf tourism parks remain non-operational after ~9 years; the Emaar deal is unconfirmed.

Strategic takeaways for BPC

  1. 1

    Play the domestic game first — it's ~20× inbound

    Inbound is ~USD 0.44B and structurally constrained (visas, flights, advisories). Domestic is ~USD 8.6B, growing 5–10%, and lands directly in BPC's hotels/motels at Cox's Bazar, Kuakata, Rangamati and Sylhet. This is the bankable near-term win.

  2. 2

    Attack yield, not just volume

    At ~USD 670/arrival Bangladesh is near the regional floor. Length-of-stay and spend-per-head (packages, F&B, experiences) move revenue faster than raw arrivals — Maldives (~2,395) and India (~3,623) prove it.

  3. 3

    Fix BPC's own data before anything else

    Start with occupancy / ADR / RevPAR across the 53 units and gated visitor counts at flagship sites. You cannot optimise commercially while flying blind — and BPC controls this data already.

  4. 4

    Capture the Eid & winter peaks deliberately

    350k–700k visitors hit Cox's Bazar in a single Eid weekend. Yield management, advance booking and dynamic pricing on BPC inventory turn surges into margin.

  5. 5

    Don't wait on the stalled mega-projects

    Sabrang/Naf parks are nine years stalled and the Emaar deal is unconfirmed. Treat them as optionality, not plan — refurbish and reposition existing BPC assets now.

  6. 6

    Stop the outbound leak

    ~USD 4–5B/yr leaves for foreign hospitals. Diverting even a fraction — via the international hospital chains now investing locally, plus MICE captured at home — recovers more than the entire inbound base.

Data gaps to close

The core problem is statistical blindness — no Tourism Satellite Account

No official data
  • No Tourism Satellite Account — receipts are not segmented by purpose, product, origin, or domestic/international. Adopt UN IRTS 2008 + TSA:RMF 2008.
  • Primary Bangladesh Bank 'Travel' BoP credit line — the only authoritative inbound-receipts figure, currently CAPTCHA-locked online; pull by hand.
  • Immigration arrival-card purpose distribution — captured but never published. Request from Special Branch / BBS.
  • No reliable foreign-arrival counts at destination level — BTB admits it cannot give Cox's Bazar figures; replace hotel-association Eid tallies with gated/ticketed counts.
  • Per-country arrival counts beyond India, and the NRB-vs-foreign-national split — only India (~290k) is published.
  • No published BPC room count, hotel/motel split, unit-level occupancy/ADR/RevPAR, or recent net P&L.
  • No length-of-stay, satisfaction/NPS, OTA/digital-channel-share, or carrying-capacity metrics.
  • World Bank arrivals/receipts series are dead post-2019/2020 — Bangladesh is not reporting to international databases.

All sources