The government has approved draft of ‘Bangladesh Tour Operators and Tour Guides (Registration and Control Act), 2021.
The law will bring the tour operators under regulation for conducting tour operations in a well-planned way for further development of the tourism industry.
In a weekly meeting held at the parliament cabinet room on Monday with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair also approved in principle the draft of “The Boilers Act, 2021.
Briefing newsmen at the Bangladesh Secretariat here after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said, “The cabinet today approved ‘The Bangladesh Tour Operators and Tour Guides (Registration and Control Act), 2020,’ to bring the local tour operator under a legal framework aimed at operating the tours in a planned manner to ensure best services to the tourists and thus boost up tourism in Bangladesh.”
In accordance with the proposed law, he said, a touring company will have to obtain a license. “No company will be allowed to arrange tours without having registration and the interest of the tourists will be protected once the act is passed,” he added.
Many unregistered tour companies have been operating tours on a large scale and thus the government has been losing huge revenues from the sector, he said, adding that once the act is passed none can operate tours without registration and the government would earn huge revenues.
Foreign companies can also operate tours under the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the proposed the law, he informed.
The law has suggested maximum six months jail and Taka two lakh fine and operation of mobile courts in case of violating it, he also said.
