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AyRojgar

Tour operator

Running organised tours. It is not lawful without registration from the Bangladesh Tourism Board, and the 2024 rules require a Tk 300,000 non-refundable fee, a Tk 1,000,000 bank solvency certificate and a Tk 50,000 security deposit with the application.

  • Last reviewed: 21 September 2026
  • Version 1
Tour operator

Tour operator

Starting capital
৳3,50,000 – ৳15,00,000
Disputed
Manpower
2 – 12 people
First sale
90 – 365 days
Editorial estimate
Break-even
6 – 24 months
Editorial estimate
Kind of work
Shop · Hard

About the business

Putting a trip together: bus or train tickets, hotel rooms, meals, a guide and a fixed day-by-day itinerary sold as one price. In Bangladesh this now sits inside a registration regime. Under the Bangladesh Tour Operators and Tour Guides (Registration and Operation) Act 2021, anyone working as a tour operator or tour guide must be registered, and the Bangladesh Tourism Board issues that registration. The Bangladesh Tour Operator (Registration and Operation) Rules 2024 made under the Act were published on 28 March 2024. The rules require the application to carry a Tk 300,000 non-refundable fee, a bank solvency certificate for Tk 1,000,000 and a Tk 50,000 security deposit. The Daily Star's reporting puts the security deposit at Tk 300,000 instead, so the two sources disagree and the gazette itself should be checked. What nobody disputes is the Tk 1,000,000 bank balance that must be shown. TOAB, the operators' association, has said from the start that these amounts are unrealistic, that licensing under other ministries carries no conditions this severe, and it has been demanding both a revision of the rules and the withdrawal of VAT on tour operator services. So the first arithmetic in this business is not about money earned but about paper. A small operator who takes two or three hundred people to Cox's Bazar or Bandarban in a year cannot lawfully do the work at all without arranging about Tk 1,350,000 first.

Unit economics

ItemRangeEvidenceSuggest a correction
Monthly working capital৳1,00,000 – ৳5,00,000Editorial estimate
Selling price৳5,500 – ৳12,000 / unitEditorial estimate
Variable cost৳3,500 – ৳10,000 / unitEditorial estimate
Gross margin17% – 36%Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue90 – 365 daysEditorial estimate
Break-even time6 – 24 monthsEditorial estimate
Cash cycle7 – 60 daysEditorial estimate
Waste / loss5% – 15%Editorial estimate
Daily capacity1 – 6Editorial estimate

What you need to start

  • Registration with the Bangladesh Tourism Board under the Bangladesh Tour Operators and Tour Guides (Registration and Operation) Act 2021 and the Bangladesh Tour Operator (Registration and Operation) Rules 2024, published 28-03-2024. The application carries a Tk 300,000 non-refundable fee, a Tk 1,000,000 bank solvency certificate and a Tk 50,000 security deposit. Sources disagree on the deposit: The Daily Star puts it at Tk 300,000. The validity and renewal fee could not be verified here and must be checked against the gazette.Licence
  • Separate registration for tour guides: under the Act anyone working as a tour guide must also be registered. The guide registration fee and conditions could not be verified here and must be checked on the Bangladesh Tourism Board's registration portal.Licence
  • Trade licence from the city corporation, municipality or union parishad: form Tk 50, licence fee Tk 200-26,000 by business type, Tk 230-1,500 in a union parishad, valid one financial year, issued in 3 working days. A TIN and VAT registration go with it; TOAB has been demanding the withdrawal of VAT on tour operator services, which means VAT applies.Licence
  • Handling a group and handling what goes wrong: a traveller falling ill, a vehicle breaking down, a waterway closed by weather, each needing an alternative on the spot. Costing a package correctly is part of the same skill.Skill
  • Rooms and rates settled in advance with hotels, resorts and transport. In the winter season rooms in Cox's Bazar, Sajek and Bandarban are not available unless booked months ahead, and the advance has to be paid in cash.Supplier
  • An office where a customer can sit and the papers can be kept. The registration application needs an address, and corporate and study-tour work does not come to an operator without a visible office.Workspace

How the work is done

  1. 1Decide whether you are registering as a tour operator or as a tour guide. The Act treats them as two separate registrations, and the operator's financial conditions are far heavier.
  2. 2Do the arithmetic first: Tk 300,000 non-refundable fee, Tk 50,000 deposit and the ability to show Tk 1,000,000 in the bank. If those three do not add up there is no point going further.
  3. 3Register the company or partnership firm and take the trade licence: form Tk 50, licence fee Tk 200-26,000 by business type, issued in 3 working days.
  4. 4Park the money and draw the bank solvency certificate. Both its date and its amount are examined, so draw it just before applying.
  5. 5Apply on the Bangladesh Tourism Board's registration portal. Read the gazette of the rules yourself before applying: newspapers carry two different figures for the security deposit, and a challan for the wrong amount will stall the application.
  6. 6Pick the destinations and settle rates with their hotels and transport in advance. Turning up in Cox's Bazar or Sajek in the winter season to look for rooms does not work, and when it does the rate is three times over.
  7. 7Cost every package on paper: transport, rooms, food, guide, entry fees and a margin for what goes wrong. A smaller group raises the per-head cost, so fix the minimum number that makes the trip viable before you sell it.
  8. 8Put the cancellation rule in writing: how much comes back if a traveller cancels how many days ahead. A hotel advance does not come back, and unless it is written down beforehand that loss lands on you every time.
  9. 9Check with the local administration whether a separate permission is needed for protected tourism areas and special tourist zones; in the hill districts the rules for taking a group in do change.
  10. 10When hiring a tour guide check whether he is registered. The Act makes tour guide registration separately compulsory, and using an unregistered guide puts the liability on the operator.
  11. 11Keep travellers' money in a separate account. Using one trip's deposits to pay another trip's hotel bill breaks the accounts within a single season, and when cancellations run high there is nothing left to refund.
  12. 12Stay connected to a body like TOAB. News of demands on the rules and on VAT comes from there first, and if the conditions change your plans have to change with them.

Seasons

  1. JanHigh
  2. FebHigh
  3. MarNormal
  4. AprNormal
  5. MayLow
  6. JunLow
  7. JulLow
  8. AugLow
  9. SepNormal
  10. OctNormal
  11. NovHigh
  12. DecHigh
HighNormalLow

Where it works well

  • Strong fitBandarban · The base for Nilgiri, Boga Lake and Thanchi trekking packages, where taking a group up the hill roads means the operator handles the local guide and the permissions.
  • Strong fitCox's Bazar · The country's biggest destination, with the most hotels and the most group-travel demand, and where winter rooms are gone unless booked ahead.
  • Strong fitDhaka · This is where the buyers are, among salaried families, corporate offices and educational institutions, and where the Bangladesh Tourism Board registration is handled.
  • Strong fitKhagrachhari · The road up to Sajek runs through this district, and in season cottage and jeep demand is such that a package cannot be sold without booking ahead.
  • Strong fitMoulvibazar · Sreemangal's tea gardens and Lawachara, with enough resorts to make group packages easy to assemble.
  • Strong fitRangamati · The main route for Kaptai Lake and Sajek trips, where boat and jeep hire advances are the largest single cost.
  • Strong fitSylhet · One and two-day packages to Jaflong, Ratargul and the tea gardens run all year, with steady demand from migrant families too.
  • PossibleBagerhat · Sundarbans trips leave from here, and because the Forest Department permission and the vessel are the operator's job it is hard for a small entrant.
  • PossibleKhulna · The commercial base for Sundarbans trips and the collecting point for travellers from the south-west.
  • PossibleSunamganj · Tanguar Haor boat trips peak in the monsoon, exactly when other destinations close, which helps fill the off-season gap.

Risks and cautions

  • HighCompliance: The cost of registration is the biggest barrier in this trade. The Tk 300,000 fee is non-refundable and does not come back even if the application is refused, and on top of it sit the Tk 50,000 deposit and the requirement to show Tk 1,000,000 in the bank. TOAB has said from the start that these amounts are unrealistic and that no other ministry's licence carries conditions this severe. For someone who takes two hundred people out in a year it is effectively impossible, so small operators stay unregistered, and unregistered means outside the law.
  • HighDependency: The whole income rests on weather and circumstance. A rough sea in the monsoon stops the St Martin's boats, a landslide closes the Sajek and Thanchi roads, and a travel restriction in the hill districts cancels a whole booked season. When a trip is cancelled the travellers are refunded, but the hotel advance is not.
  • HighWorking capital: The money always leaves first. Hotel and bus advances go out well before the trip, the traveller's balance arrives on the day of departure, and a corporate or study-tour bill is cleared 30-60 days after the trip ends. On top of that Tk 1,000,000 has to sit in the bank and Tk 50,000 lies with the board, so there is always less usable cash than the turnover suggests.
  • HighDemand: The year's income is squeezed into four or five months. November to February is the full season and June to September is near nil, yet office rent, staff pay and licence costs run all twelve months. Two bad seasons in a row and a small operator does not get back up.
  • MediumOther: Liability for travellers' safety. A drowning at sea, a fall in the hills or a road accident: when something happens the first liability lands on the operator, and being unregistered makes it worse. Working without insurance and a written limit of liability leaves the whole business one accident away from ending.

Sources

What changed

No corrections have been published yet.

Questions and answers

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Stories about this business

What went wrongThe president of the tour operators' owners association in Cox's Bazar and small traders on the beach, in a Protidiner Kagoj report

A hundred crore lost in 15 election days, with hotel bookings under 10 per cent

Cox's Bazar emptied of tourists in February 2026 around the national election: most hotels fell below 10 per cent occupancy and the 15-day loss was put at a hundred crore taka.

Reasons
Weak demand, Other

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