Tourism development as a vehicle of reconciliation in ‘post-conflict’ Bangladesh: Indigenous Community Perspectives from the Chittagong Hill Tracts

This project explores the views of Bangladesh’s indigenous Jumma people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) towards current tourism developments in a ‘post-conflict’ environment. The project has identified a range of positive outcomes, as well as the key challenges encountered since the cessation of hostilities in 1997 that resulted in the creation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord (1997). This study is one of the first of its kind in offering indigenous narratives on tourism development discourse in Bangladesh. Based on in-depth interviews with indigenous business owners and employees in the CHT tourism sector, the findings reveal that many socio-economic benefits have been realised, including greater economic stability, an improvement in living standards, and the perception amongst respondents of brighter prospects for their families. However, although respondents reported that tourism had in part performed as a vehicle of reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Bangladeshis, several challenges evidently remained. These included a perceived lack of government support towards further tourism development, the displacement of communities, and continued feelings of mistrust between some indigenous hosts and non-indigenous domestic tourists. It is anticipated that this study will provide important recommendations for government and indigenous stakeholders so that tourism may further support positive socio-economic outcomes and help address the continuing issue of regional inequalities.