A new think tank, Bangladesh Travel and Tourism Council (BTTC), has started its journey in a bid to create a network of professionals and businesses to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange in the local travel, tourism and hospitality sector.

The council held its first meeting at a hotel in the capital on Saturday, said a press release.

Shahid Hamid FIH, acting managing director of Dhaka Regency Hotel, presided over the meeting, which was attended by business leaders from airlines, travel, tourism and hospitality sectors.

A 15- member ad-hoc committee has been formed with Kazi Wahidul Alam, editor of The Bangladesh Monitor as its convenor.

Shahid Hamid, acting managing director of Dhaka Regency Hotel, Imran Asif, CEO of Air Astra, Akhteruzzaman Khan Kabir, ex-chairman of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, Mujib U Ahmed, professor of the department of tourism and hospitality management at the University of Dhaka, Rubina Hussain, managing director of the Institute of Hotel Management, Asif Ahmed, acting general manager of the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka, Shakawath Hossain, CEO of the Unique Hotel and Resorts, Rezwan Maruf, director for sales and marketing at InterContinental Dhaka, included in the committee.

Other members of the committee are Faruq M Ahmed, travel writer, Basudev Bhattacharya, ex-principal of the National Hotel and Tourism Training Institute, Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmad, ex-chief conservator of Forests, Masud Hossain, managing director of The Bengal Tours, Taufiq Rahman, CEO of Journey Plus, and Syed Ghulam Qadir, general manager of US Bangla Holidays.

The meeting formed a three-member committee to constitute by-laws of the council and a draft of by-laws will be presented in the next general meeting to be held on November 23.