Repackaging Bangladesh
An opportunity to showcase Bangladesh.
Lonely Planet, one of the world's leading travel guidebooks, owned by BBC worldwide, has ranked Bangladesh as the Best Value Destination in the world for 2011. It names nine other countries/cities to complete the list of top ten. Behind Bangladesh stand Nicaragua, Washington D.C., Paris, Philippines, Argentina, Naples, Ukraine and Syria.
Each of these destinations boasts of some unique cost saving feature. But the Lonely Planet says that an international visitor will be rewarded most and get the maximum "value for his money" if he visits Bangladesh.
Does all this sound gimmicky? Not so, if one sees what attractions Bangladesh offers. Lonely Planet says in unequivocal terms that in that country
you can get marvelous meals for under $1. A midrange hotel room for 10 times less than what is available in a similar category elsewhere. "You will pay a little more to get around the Sundarbans National Park on a tiger spotting tour -- $150 or thereabouts -- but it is still peanuts, even compared to what you pay next door in India." Critics, however, point out that such a list only refers to "cheap destinations."
Lonely Planet says that this ranking is based on the feedback it has received from travelers "getting their money's worth." And they have, besides their staff and authors, a 600,000 strong online community to present to their readers the best places to go and things to do around the world. Next year (2011), we may, therefore, expect a large number of tourists to avail of the value for money deals in Bangladesh. It will give a boost to our touristic image.
To many of us this ranking sounds incredible. But Bangladesh seems to be slowly and imperceptibly becoming the "new kid in the block."
Some people say that something immense is happening in Bangladesh. Positive developments in many sectors are taking place in the country. They say, look at the surge of RMG export orders. See the line of local and foreign banks lining up our main streets in Dhaka and elsewhere. Check the large number of high-rises changing the skyline of our cities. Feel the jamming of our streets with mid-size and big cars.
Bangladesh is one of the few countries in the world that was not affected by the recent global recession.
Today, Bangladesh boasts of shipbuilding capability and is looking forward to becoming a regional communication hub. Foreign remittances increased during the global downturn just as exports grew and imports bloated. Human development is also noteworthy.
Sceptics argue that because Bangladesh's economy had little exposure to the outside world, it was not affected by the slump. The country produces and exports basic RMG products, which come cheap. The countries affected by recession switched to Bangladesh as a source of supply as most of them could not afford high-end textiles and garments.
While acknowledging that there is some truth in what the sceptics say, the point is that Bangladesh has moved up the value chain too and has made healthy structural changes in production and marketing. But let it also be clear that individual entrepreneurs also took grave risks and created opportunities for themselves. Today, they are reaping some of the benefits that accompanied the risks. Their success can also be seen in other sectors like leather, pharmaceuticals and jute manufacturing. Agriculture is, of course, already a success in many ways.
The dilemma before all of us is that Bangladesh could have attained this level of success earlier if the country had not suffered from an image problem. Even with present successes, the entrepreneurs are not confident that they will not stumble again on this count.
The western media has largely been responsible for creating and hyping much of our negative image. We also had a certain category of leaders in the past who, for the sake of foreign aid, were reluctant to highlight any positive news lest it would lessen their chance of getting this aid. Thus, the country was in an image trap that restricted foreign investments, tourism and foreign talent.
However things are likely to change. One important reason is that certain prestigious international investment banks and credit rating agencies have, after evaluation of our economy, given Bangladesh enviable ratings. Thus, Standard and Poor, Moody's Investors, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and Price Waterhouse Coopers have given good citations. It seems that, at long last, Bangladesh is being noticed by the international community. In keeping with this changing image we need to change into new clothes.
So what do we do? At the outset, we must find ways to reduce our negative image. We must start doing things that are expected from a responsible and democratic country. Next, we must identify our national strengths and weaknesses. We must highlight our core national values and build up a branding profile. This will be the start of the repackaging of Bangladesh for the world.
We must find out what other countries Bangladesh is usually compared to, in the region and in the world at large, and what type of packaging these countries use in order to attract favourable attention. We should bring forth our core values, and associate Bangladesh with those values that investors like or respect. These value assets can make our country more attractive and compelling than our competitors. This will get Bangladesh differentiated and promoted.
Bangladesh has to be identified in the mind of visitors and investors through a cluster of images of the country, like:
- Sounds (our music);
- Colour (our flowers and dress);
- Words (our songs);
- Shapes;
- Smells (our cuisine)
-Other symbols (our values-- resilience, adaptability).
These will persuade a foreigner to come, stay and interact closely for investment or tourism. The clarity and strength of these chosen images of a country in a foreigner's mind will gradually overtake the negative images of Bangladesh that persist in him.
During 2011, Bangladesh will be hosting a great sports extravaganza, the Cricket World Cup. Our government has big plans to boost tourism on that occasion. Major multi-national companies are also likely to come next year to Bangladesh to see if they can invest, especially in textiles and RMG. They will come only if they get favourable reports about Bangladesh in 2010 from their peers and partners already operating in Bangladesh. Their report will prompt the newcomers to take positive decision.
Bangladesh has most of the economic fundamentals. Investors and tourists should normally flock to a country like ours. But they desist because, among other things, we have not been able to get rid of our bad image. Furthermore, we have not yet been able to create a new brand image. We must invent a new slogan for Bangladesh, just as Lonely Planet has given us one of its own.
Time is running out. The tourists are at our gates. The investors are packing their bags.
-- Ashfaqur Rahman is a former Ambassador and Chairman of the Centre for Foreign Affairs.
