Silversea ushers in tourism hope

Silversea, a Monaco-based luxury cruise line, will arrive in Bangladesh in the middle of this month with around 100 tourists and the same number of crew members.

This will be the first ever trip by an internationally-reputed ocean cruise line to Bangladesh, which will put the country on the world's cruise map and help boost future tourism.

The tourists will visit Maheshkhali Island in Cox's Bazar and the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world.

“This cruise tourism will have a positive impact on Bangladesh as a safe destination,” said Toufiq Rahman, chief executive officer of Journey Plus, the local partner of Silversea.

Among the tourists are nationals form the US, European countries, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and the fare begins from $17,150 (Tk 13.72 lakh) per person, he added.

Various ministries and government agencies have responded proactively to facilitate the voyage. To this effect, the tourism ministry held an inter-ministerial meeting involving the foreign, home, forest and shipping ministries as well as with officials of customs, immigration and coast guard in May last year.

A taskforce headed by the tourism secretary is coordinating this effort on behalf of the Bangladesh government.

The holidaymakers will be given immigration and customs clearance on the spot, said AKM Rafiqul Islam, executive officer of Bangladesh Tourism Board.

He said tangible benefits would come in the form of visa fee, travel tax, food cost, transport and accommodation, but intangible benefits would be much greater.

“If we can offer the tourists quality services, Bangladesh's image will brighten and tourism will flourish in the future,” said Rafiqul.

Bangladesh has long been trying to be included in the ocean cruise tourism, like Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives among the South Asian countries. Myanmar has made it to the list in recent years, according Bangladesh Tourism Board.

After years' of efforts by Journey Plus, Silversea agreed to come to Bangladesh by a ship named Silver Discoverer and sent a team to visit the places to see infrastructure and safety issues last year.

Titled “Colombo to Kolkata Asia Expedition Cruise,” the voyage will begin on February 11 and last for 16 days before it ends in Kolkata.

After spending nine days in Colombo, Galle, Kirinda and Trincomalee in Sri Lanka and Andaman Islands in India, the Silver Discoverer will start cruising the Bay of Bengal. After a two-day journey, it will reach Maheshkhali Island in Cox's Bazar on the 12th day of the trip.

“This is where [Maheshkhali] you will see the real rural Bangladesh,” Silversea says in its website.

To get a feeling of how the locals live, the tourists will take local transport (rickshaws and tuk tuks) and visit a Buddhist temple, meeting the monks and getting to know the daily routine of the apprentices and monks themselves. Later, they will visit a school and a group of Burmese weavers before visiting a small Rakhayn community at Thakur Tala village.

On the 13 and 14th days, it will take the tourists to the Sundarbans. The ship will be moored in the Pashur River and will be accompanied by local guides and rangers. Local lecturers will talk about the Sundarbans.

The tourists are expected to see wildlife sanctuaries in the Sundarbans where an estimated 350 Bengal tigers live. Other wildlife species present are macaques, Indian grey mongoose, leopard cats, Ridley sea turtle, wild boar, jungle cat, flying foxes, and spotted deer (Chital).

On the 15th day of the trip, the Silver Discoverer will leave Bangladesh territory and reach Hooghly River in Kolkata late at night.