Mr. Abu Taher MD. Shoeb is the Director and former president of The Sylhet Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCI). He is the chairman of Hotel Holy Gate and La Vista Hotel.
Interviewer: Assalamualikum sir! Please accept our sincere gratitude for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak with the Leading University Tourist Club.
Our first question to you is what steps does The Sylhet Chamber of Commerce usually take to develop the tourism industry in Sylhet? If you could tell us a little.
ATM Shoeb: Thank you. Actually, the Sylhet Chamber of Commerce & Industry works to develop all sorts of business in Sylhet, including tourism, IT etc., wherever the business prospects are seen. The main activities of Sylhet Chamber are to identify the prospect of investment and introduce the potential business sector in Sylhet, and Sylhet Chamber is also working with the tourism sector. The tourism sector is the most promising sector in Sylhet. I often say Sylhet is a virgin city. Nothing has happened in Sylhet yet. Some people call it a ‘city of despair’, but I call it ‘hope’ because even though there hasn’t been noticeable development yet, there is still a possibility in the future. That’s why SCCI always proposes different demands to the government to draw their attention and ensure this sector’s growth. To represent Sylhet tourism, we have written and sent many letters to the government by identifying the prospective opportunities for development to achieve growth in tourism. The SCCI is doing lot of things other than tourism, however tourism is a major concern for us. We are doing our best and drawing the attention of all the possible bodies we can. You will be delighted to know that Osmani International Airport, Sylhet, has begun offering direct flights from Sylhet to Cox’s Bazar. We have sent proposals to improve the Sylhet railway, and the honorable prime minister has already approved the route of Dhaka to Sylhet six-lane highway, the road from Sylhet to Tamabil Highway has also been reconstructed. We are knocking every government office to establish all sorts of connectivity units by developing required infrastructure facilities. That is all as SCCI we do.
Let’s move on to the second question- What is the extent of damage at the tourism industry in Sylhet due to the coronavirus? Has the government made contact with the Sylhet businesspeople who are suffering? What is your opinion about this?
ATM Shoeb: We have estimated a monthly loss of about 100 crore taka for the pandemic. There are not plenty of business sectors in Sylhet, and the tourism industry is flourishing, but tourism has suffered a devastating situation for the last 18 months. This is not all about business; the people who work in this business and their families are also involved, and everyone has suffered from this loss. The major problem is that we think the incentive program announced for tourism by the Honorable Prime Minister will be received at home. However, the reality is different as this is a banking procedure, and you must visit the bank and follow their procedures to get the loan. There will also be a certain period of time and interest to pay for it. For the lack of proper documentation and appropriate procedures, most businesses didn’t get the loan; only few got the it. The small and medium enterprises also didn’t receive the loan for similar reasons. What we did as SCCI was that we called for a meeting at SCCI with ED of Bangladesh bank along with all Area Managers of public and private banks to find out why the business didn’t receive this incentive, and we also asked them to notify us what are the lacking that our business have. We also called District Administrator, and Divisional Commissioner of Sylhet in these meetings. This is all about the relationship between banks and clients.
Incentives are not given in the same way in Bangladesh as in the developed countries like the USA. It is a fund that must be collected and paid with interest. Those who received this fund suffer from a running sore because of the monthly installments. The businesses already have to face so many restrictions; if the businesses cannot make a profit, forget about the principal amount; how will they pay the interest? Businesses don’t have many options here, and we, as SCCI, have tried. I became president during this pandemic unfortunately, and I witnessed all of this. However, we have tried from SCCI to avail this incentive for all the business organizations in Sylhet.
Interviewer: Sir, I will not call you unlucky because, in this pandemic, we have learned that the Sylhet Chamber of Commerce has done a lot for the business in many ways.
My third question to you is How has the government worked to increase investment in the Sylhet tourism business, and What role has the Chamber of Commerce of Sylhet played?
ATM Shoeb: As you might know Sylhet has been declared as ‘Daughter of Nature’ by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. What we need right now is the infrastructure and connectivity. We need to develop every destination with the required facilities for the tourists. There are various famous locations in Sylhet i.e. Shadapathor, Ratargul, Jaflong, Bichnakandi, and Lalakhal. We must develop these places according to international standards, where tourists can enjoy and stay longer for entertainment. The government is also taking initiatives to develop tourism gradually. As a member of a tourist club, you must be aware that one of the world’s largest industries is tourism, and there are no boundaries to this industry. Keeping in mind its prospects, SCCI is trying to utilize the best possible usages of fund allocated by the government for tourism in Sylhet, and we have sent letters to the district office to know the ways. If government develop its infrastructure, connectivity, and tourism spots in Sylhet either by themselves or through PPP, as we cannot develop this, I believe Sylhet will be one of the biggest tourism cities in Bangladesh in the next 5 years. The natural beauty aside, Sylhet has the tombs of Hazrat Shahjalal (RA) Hazrat Shahporan (RA), therefore our religious tourism is blooming. People from all over the country visit Sylhet for the religious purpose only.
Our responsibility is to inform the government to implement these things and government should implement them as well. You must be aware that the Hon’ble Prime Minister has taken initiatives to renovate Osmani International Airport, Sylhet to with around TK.2300 crore budget. She wanted to make it a hub to operate direct flights as it already has direct flights to England and the Middle East and will operate direct flights to Malaysia, China, India and the USA one day. Tourism will boost when it becomes a hub, and investment will be required at that time. There is no significant investment in Sylhet. There is no remarkable resort in Sylhet except Nazimgarh Garden Resort. That is an important thing when foreign investors come; fortunately, now they are searching for possible investment opportunities. So, we have a place of hope to promote the tourism of Sylhet. SCCI will promote this prospect to attract foreign investors, and eventually, tourism of Sylhet will move forward.
Interviewer: As you said, there are many investment opportunities in Sylhet for the tourism development, as a President of SCCI, what do you suggest to an entrepreneur in order to invest in Sylhet and take business initiatives?
ATM Shoeb: Fantastic question! To me, there are two crucial sectors; one is agriculture, a very important sector. COVID-19 has made us realize agriculture’s significance as we cannot survive without food. Moreover, the food industry is the top priority business in the world. As a result, in the developed world, the wealthiest people are farmers, but in Bangladesh, we call farmers name and despise them. This sector is still neglected in Bangladesh and mainly in Sylhet. We plan to organize 13 seminars in 13 districts to showcase the successful agriculture business and set an example in every place so that we can encourage people. We have already conducted one seminar in Bishwanath Upazila. We have included other organizations related to agriculture with us as well. The agriculture sector seems to be most viable for investment as this is a massive industry; food processing, fish processing, and meat processing facilitate substantial investment opportunities. We didn’t make any progress in this sector where there is an incredible prospect in Sylhet. Furthermore, you will be happy to know that we made a plan on July 18, 2021, everything is set up, to organize an agriculture fair for seven days with a seminar on each day on a different topic. There will be a registration charge of 500 BDT.
There are 5/6 universities, including public and private, in Sylhet, from where almost 3 thousand graduates are entering the job market. There are other educational institutions like polytechnic, madrasha, also people without any formal education who are around 8-10 thousand in number, waiting to join any work but we cannot do anything for this huge workforce in Sylhet. To do something for this huge manpower, we must develop agriculture, tourism, and industry. If we cannot develop this sector, the future of Sylhet will be worse. This issue is needed to be addressed to ensure these people’s employment opportunities.
Interviewer: Despite the massive potential of tourism in Sylhet, the progress of the tourism industry in Sylhet is shallow. Popular places are losing their beauty day by day. The most popular former tourist destination, Jaflong is now unable to attract any tourists. Whom would you blame for all this, and what could be the solution?
ATM Shoeb: Who is responsible? Difficult question!!
We are all responsible. The world is concerned about the climate change issue, which we were unaware of around five years ago. Now meetings are held on climate change, and funds are provided to protect the climate. We didn’t bother to do these five years ago, but these things are huge concerns now. When flood happened in our country, developed nations called us a poor country, but now they are also facing such disasters resulting from climate change. Moreover, global climate change has taken a terrible shape now. Environmental issue has become one of the significant issues for the next generations.
The problem is if we can’t fix it, whatever we are discussing-the possibility of flourishing tourism, will be destroyed. We have already destroyed Jaflong. Only a small number of people are connected with the stones business, whereas tourism involves a vast number of people. We can progress with well-planned map including every business i.e. tourism, stone, and other business in a parallel way. But the initiatives must come from the government, and implementation of solid policy is required to protect and develop. Environmental issues should not be neglected at any cost. We will lose our beautiful city if we do not make strict guidelines now. You can see that right now is November 23, 2021, but still, we don’t feel cold, and we are responsible for this hot weather; we have cut the big trees, destroyed hills and mountains, and filled our rivers and canals, impacting our environment in consequence. So, we have to get out of these, and now it’s time to dig ponds to meet the water demand. We cannot meet the water supply requirements in emergency circumstances like fire with reserve water tanks. If you travel to America, or England, you will see they preserve their ancient concepts and never let nature intervene.
In contrast, we are destroying hills and mountains and creating stones. We are walking in opposite direction of the environment in the name of development. We have to get out of this concept now. According to some studies, if we do not take the necessary steps to protect nature, Bangladesh may go underwater with the increasing sea level by the next 20 to 25 years. It is high time to work together to preserve nature and the environment. Otherwise, we will lose tourism and other industrial prospects as well. There needs to be a firm stand regarding this from everyone; the Sylhet Chamber and the government alone cannot do this.
Interviewer: We must save nature; we must protect the traders; what do you suggest to the traders, what kind of work can the government do here so that both sides can exist? Because a large group of stone traders and many labors work here, what would be your suggestion?
ATM Shoeb: As I said a while ago, the two must work together. The thing is, definitely a lot of workers are involved with the stone trading industry, but you can’t keep doing what is threatening to our future generation. That way the future of Sylhet will be at stake and this should not happen. Our main point is that businesses should continue business activities without destroying nature. If we can maintain these three things together, business, nature, and tourism, that will benefit us. You know we are under threat of a major earthquake in Sylhet; there is a possibility of a big earthquake every 100 years. By digging deeper and taking out stones, we are making Sylhet more vulnerable. If we don’t have stones, we can import, but we should not destroy nature for the sake of stones. The govt. along with district administration and police super office working on these issues to allocate a separate zone to collect stones.
As a businessman and leader, I also agree that we should not nurture any business by going against our nature and environment; those who solely depend on this stone business and job must have other opportunities or jobs for them. That can be tourism or any other sector. One cannot continue with a business that makes a significant threat to billions of people. As I said, it is time to work with all these three; nature, business and tourism, altogether.
Interviewer: Around the world, tourism generates about 10% of employment. Bangladesh has been offering graduation and post-graduation degrees on it for the last 13 years. Though, skilled youth have taken formal education in the tourism sector, employment policies and guidelines in banks or other institutions are not well developed for tourism sectors. Is it possible to make an employment policy to encourage tourism graduates, and are there any plans on behalf of the SCCI?
ATM Shoeb: Difficult question. One thing is that you have to see how much is the budget for this year for tourism is. It might be a 100 or 150 crore budget for tourism even though it’s the world’s largest industry. You are allocating this low portion of the budget to the world’s largest industry. People love to travel and have traveled to almost all the popular countries whereas in Bangladesh tourism sector is still much unexplored. The world is now recognizing our country through cricket, which sparks interest among them to travel to Bangladesh. To patronize this interest, we must represent our country to them with the infrastructure and connectivity development. I have traveled to many countries and realised Bangladesh is naturally rich. Hon’ble Prime Minister has started the work for branding Bangladesh, and the budget should be allocated to every areas including manpower. We are sending the proposal to the Parjatan ministry by identifying the possible areas to work on and will add this to our booklist.
Interviewer: My final question to you, as a successful entrepreneur, what is your suggestion to young entrepreneurs to encourage them in the tourism business?
ATM Shoeb: The major concern in Sylhet’s business is the tendency to replicate. We easily copy the concept and start similar business-like hotels and restaurants. This tendency puts the business in intense rivalry and destroys the business environment. We do not research and calculate the business opportunities that much. My suggestion to young entrepreneurs is to seek out new possible business prospects and invest. The conventional business does not give them enough opportunities as existing market leaders. SCCI plans to organize a youth entrepreneur summit to encourage and guide them to invest and be involved in the prospering business. We plan to create employment opportunities through industrialization and inspire them to be entrepreneurs by the summit. There are other booming sectors in Sylhet like education, health, agriculture and so on, we will discuss that some other day. We need proper planning to turn the prospects into reality because we are losing a considerable number of talented skilled graduates who go abroad and we cannot motivate them to return. So, we need to reverse the circumstances to make our youths part of the development process.
