Staff Reporter :
The 28th Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF), the country’s biggest trade show, witnessed a huge crowd as visitors are coming to the venue by BRTC special buses.
Dhaka city’s visitors are also able to go there easily thanks to two expressways.
Every day 64 BRTC buses are carrying visitors only from Dhaka city.
Of the buses, 40 start journey from Kuril while 24 from Farmgate. However, on Fridays and Saturdays the number of buses increased to 161.
BRTC also offers shuttle service from Narayanganj and Narsingdi from 8:00 am daily to transport visitors to and from the fair. Meanwhile, the Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Centre in Purbachal is hosting the event for the third time.
Earlier in 2022, the venue was relocated to Purbachal from Sher e Bangla Nagar and businesses saw low turnout because of poor road communication as well as nagging traffic jam in Dhaka city. Then the very next year, BRTC introduced a special service to ease the communication.
Unlike the previous two editions, traders express their satisfaction with the visitor turnout and sales this time, as consumers move to the venue from far and distant.
Visitors were seen spending time around a water fountain with their close ones, snapping photos and others crowding towards stalls and pavilions to buy products of their choice.
The fair venue has got a festive look with spectacular decorations of pavilions and stalls of multinational, national companies while many of them have announced special offers for attracting customers.
Abdullah Mamun, a visitor from Hatirpol said “I came to take a quick peep at new products, especially household items,” Mr Mamun, however, said the presence of foreign stalls was relatively low this year.
“For a buyer like me, foreign pavilions are an interesting part of the event as they bring in merchandise of unique designs,” he added.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the fair on January 21, declaring ‘handicraft’ as the ‘Product of the Year’ for 2024. The trade show is scheduled to conclude on February 20.
The entry fee has been increased this year to Tk 50 for adults and Tk 25 for children aged below 12 from last year’s Tk 40 and Tk 20 respectively.
There are 351 stalls, including 16-18 pavilions for foreign companies. The fair is open from 10:00am to 9:00pm on weekdays. On weekends, however, visitors can explore it until 10:00pm.