Bangladesh to conduct tourism surveys for 2026-27

The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, in collaboration with the Bangladesh Tourism Board, is conducting domestic, outbound and inbound tourism surveys under a programme aimed at developing a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) for 2026-27.

Fahmida Akhtar, Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, said this while addressing a World Tourism Day 2026 programme held on October 3 at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Centre in Dhaka. The event focused on ‘Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence: The Future of Tourism’.

The initiative is intended to quantify tourism’s economic contribution as the authorities seek to establish a more comprehensive statistical foundation for policymaking, investment and sustainable development in the sector.
A satellite account is a supplementary statistical framework linked to core national accounts that focuses on a specific sector.

The exercise will measure tourist expenditure, travel patterns and the consumption of tourism-related goods and services, while generating statistics comparable with international standards.

Data collection will be conducted quarterly throughout the 2026-27 financial year, covering July-September, October-December, January-March and April-June.

The surveys will cover residents travelling within Bangladesh, Bangladeshi nationals travelling abroad, and foreign nationals and non-resident Bangladeshis visiting the country through airports, land ports and seaports.

The programme will also record visitors travelling for leisure, business, medical treatment, education, religious purposes and visits to friends and relatives.

Transit passengers and crew members who do not pass through immigration, however, will be excluded.