Inspire to Aspire Women Travelers Campaign
Kanij Fatima :
“To awaken alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.”
– Freya Stark
In order to experience this pleasantest sensation in the entire world, there is no alternative to traveling. As far as the statement is true, it is also true that traveling is not bounded by age or gender restrictions. Being a woman, one might think that Bangladesh does not fall under the category where people share this perception. But for all the ladies out there, the scenario is finally transforming and taking the shape of a society which is much freer, more secured and well-aware. One key factor that has been influencing this process since its inception is TripZip. Their latest program, Women Travelers Campaign 2017 has inspired thousands of women in Bangladesh to make traveling their ‘passion.’ The campaign went on for almost two weeks during March 3 to 17 and dropped curtains on its last day. The closing ceremony was held on March 17’s afternoon at the Banquet Hall of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation.
TripZip is a social enterprise that has been established with the mission to make traveling easier, convenient, and more accessible to the youth, with special focus on children, women, and disadvantaged groups. It is providing a perfect platform where anybody can share their experience, reviews, photos of their visit to different tourist destinations and explore newer places in the country as well as their inner ‘traveler’ self. In order to facilitate traveling for these groups, TripZip has been organizing a number of events since last year such as – Youth Dialogue 2016, Kids’ Camp 2017 and Women Travelers Campaign.
TripZip puts more emphasis on women travelers through organising this campaign that intends to encourage females to embrace the spirit of travelling and fulfill their dreams, giving a credible platform for the existing female travelers to express their stories and get recognized, and also initiating a conversation of the issue surrounding the topic – ‘Women Travelers.’ Last year, TripZip in collaboration with Bangladesh Tourism Board organized a social media based photo sharing event titled, ‘Photo Sharing & Review Contest’ for the women travelers from March 7 to 15. Rashed Khan Menon, Minister, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism was present in the closing ceremony. After the overwhelming success of the event, TripZip decided to organize it in a bigger, better, and bolder manner in 2017.
This year, the first program of the campaign was ‘Women travelers: Perspective Bangladesh,’ a Focus Group Discussion which was held on March 4. The panelists included academicians, corporate representatives, students, and avid travelers who talked about the issues being faced by women travelers around the country and suggestions on improving the scenario. Panelist Sayma Rahman, Senior Specialist, Digital Partnership, Grameen Phone said, “Traveling for me is a way to break the stereotyping that women in Bangladesh do not travel alone, to broaden my perspective about life, to learn and embrace differences in the world, to appreciate this beautiful earth where life is ephemeral. As a Bangladeshi female traveler, I had to overcome social stigma attached to solo traveling, exaggerated safety concerns from family, relentless negativity and uninvited opinions from people around me.”
On the other hand, Panelist Sabiha Matin, Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, DIU added, “We need to emphasize on and encourage in-bound tourism in order to develop tourism industry in real sense. I find this interesting that TripZip is making this ‘women travelers’ concept not become confined to research papers only by focusing on local women tourists and inspiring them to travel more, either solo or in groups. If their work reaches policy making level with the ministry in near future, then this whole initiative will be even more successful.”
Mahira Habib, Deputy Manager, Sales & Marketing, Royal Tulip Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa, said, “It is indeed a great initiative by TripZip and Bangladesh Tourism Board to bring up this idea about promoting Women travelers to explore Bangladesh. The Woman is the source of knowledge for the children and the young generation. Traveling has changed me from an introvert to an extrovert person. Few years back, I could not imagine that I would serve myself in hospitality and tourism industry. For my professional purpose, I have to travel and visit to my resort at least every month for corporate events. Also I make some time for myself for personal travel. In the beginning it was a bit difficult for family restrictions, security, transport issues, etc. But I never gave up for what I like. I travelled with my female friends to Cox’s Bazar by road and felt safe. What I believe, if you don’t take initiative by yourself, nobody would want you to step forward. You have to be courageous and make your own decision. I work and save money to travel rather than buying jewelries. There are a lot of places in Bangladesh to explore. So my suggestion to all the ladies, save your money to explore yourself and your beautiful country, Bangladesh. We, women are the institution for our children and the young generation.”
Kanij Fatima, Founder, TripZip conducted the session and said, “TripZip puts more emphasis on women travelers because according to us, Considering the socioeconomic scenario of Bangladesh, where at the same time women is the source of knowledge for the children and women face different problems and issues while traveling we thought, it would only be befitting to organise programs that help and contribute to the women travelers’ scenario in Bangladesh.”
The Facebook based selfie contest ‘Favorite Destination Selfie during Traveling’ and Photography Contest ‘Beautiful Bangladesh through Your Eyes’ came up next which emphasized on individual visits to favorite tourist destinations and the unexplored places within the country that have the potential to make it to the favorites’ list. Certificates were given to the contestants sending the top 3 (three) unusual yet extraordinary selfies and three photographs in the closing ceremony of the campaign. The winners of the selfie contest were – Tanzima Hridi. Sharin Linka Das and Bithi Afrin. On the other hand, Shenjuti Shabnam, Ummey Taslima Eva, and Sadia Sharmeen won the photography contest. Winners were provided with gift vouchers which included coupons for two nights stay at Royal Tulip Sea Pearl Beach resort, one-day visit to Dhaka Resort, and dinner at Pan Pacific.
Along with the contests and group discussion, a survey – ‘Identify need and demand of Women Travelers’ was conducted on women in order to have a holistic view of the requirements of the travelers. The survey responses show that 50 per cent of the respondents find entertainment as the purpose behind spending money during traveling. 68 per cent of the respondents agreed to the statement that improving security would make their travel more convenient.
The survey was conducted in University of Dhaka (DU), Daffodil International University (DIU), BRAC University, International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT), University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) and United International University (UIU).
This exciting campaign served the purpose of creating and promoting a “Women Travelers’ Network” which intends to bring together female tourists, media personnel, corporate, industry experts, and students in one place to stimulate the wanderlust of other potential women travelers in future.
The closing ceremony was adorned by the chief guest, Rashed Khan Menon MP. The Minister in his speech said, “The responsibility of bringing a breakthrough in tourism sector lies with the contribution of new generation. Bangladesh has been able to make its mark on world map as recently an ocean cruise ship has come here twice on it route. Women’s contribution in this progressive sector has been immense. If they start becoming more independent and take actions on their own for their safety, they will be able to travel much more freely. So, I wholeheartedly welcome this initiative from TripZip.”
“To awaken alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.”
– Freya Stark
In order to experience this pleasantest sensation in the entire world, there is no alternative to traveling. As far as the statement is true, it is also true that traveling is not bounded by age or gender restrictions. Being a woman, one might think that Bangladesh does not fall under the category where people share this perception. But for all the ladies out there, the scenario is finally transforming and taking the shape of a society which is much freer, more secured and well-aware. One key factor that has been influencing this process since its inception is TripZip. Their latest program, Women Travelers Campaign 2017 has inspired thousands of women in Bangladesh to make traveling their ‘passion.’ The campaign went on for almost two weeks during March 3 to 17 and dropped curtains on its last day. The closing ceremony was held on March 17’s afternoon at the Banquet Hall of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation.
TripZip is a social enterprise that has been established with the mission to make traveling easier, convenient, and more accessible to the youth, with special focus on children, women, and disadvantaged groups. It is providing a perfect platform where anybody can share their experience, reviews, photos of their visit to different tourist destinations and explore newer places in the country as well as their inner ‘traveler’ self. In order to facilitate traveling for these groups, TripZip has been organizing a number of events since last year such as – Youth Dialogue 2016, Kids’ Camp 2017 and Women Travelers Campaign.
TripZip puts more emphasis on women travelers through organising this campaign that intends to encourage females to embrace the spirit of travelling and fulfill their dreams, giving a credible platform for the existing female travelers to express their stories and get recognized, and also initiating a conversation of the issue surrounding the topic – ‘Women Travelers.’ Last year, TripZip in collaboration with Bangladesh Tourism Board organized a social media based photo sharing event titled, ‘Photo Sharing & Review Contest’ for the women travelers from March 7 to 15. Rashed Khan Menon, Minister, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism was present in the closing ceremony. After the overwhelming success of the event, TripZip decided to organize it in a bigger, better, and bolder manner in 2017.
This year, the first program of the campaign was ‘Women travelers: Perspective Bangladesh,’ a Focus Group Discussion which was held on March 4. The panelists included academicians, corporate representatives, students, and avid travelers who talked about the issues being faced by women travelers around the country and suggestions on improving the scenario. Panelist Sayma Rahman, Senior Specialist, Digital Partnership, Grameen Phone said, “Traveling for me is a way to break the stereotyping that women in Bangladesh do not travel alone, to broaden my perspective about life, to learn and embrace differences in the world, to appreciate this beautiful earth where life is ephemeral. As a Bangladeshi female traveler, I had to overcome social stigma attached to solo traveling, exaggerated safety concerns from family, relentless negativity and uninvited opinions from people around me.”
On the other hand, Panelist Sabiha Matin, Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, DIU added, “We need to emphasize on and encourage in-bound tourism in order to develop tourism industry in real sense. I find this interesting that TripZip is making this ‘women travelers’ concept not become confined to research papers only by focusing on local women tourists and inspiring them to travel more, either solo or in groups. If their work reaches policy making level with the ministry in near future, then this whole initiative will be even more successful.”
Mahira Habib, Deputy Manager, Sales & Marketing, Royal Tulip Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa, said, “It is indeed a great initiative by TripZip and Bangladesh Tourism Board to bring up this idea about promoting Women travelers to explore Bangladesh. The Woman is the source of knowledge for the children and the young generation. Traveling has changed me from an introvert to an extrovert person. Few years back, I could not imagine that I would serve myself in hospitality and tourism industry. For my professional purpose, I have to travel and visit to my resort at least every month for corporate events. Also I make some time for myself for personal travel. In the beginning it was a bit difficult for family restrictions, security, transport issues, etc. But I never gave up for what I like. I travelled with my female friends to Cox’s Bazar by road and felt safe. What I believe, if you don’t take initiative by yourself, nobody would want you to step forward. You have to be courageous and make your own decision. I work and save money to travel rather than buying jewelries. There are a lot of places in Bangladesh to explore. So my suggestion to all the ladies, save your money to explore yourself and your beautiful country, Bangladesh. We, women are the institution for our children and the young generation.”
Kanij Fatima, Founder, TripZip conducted the session and said, “TripZip puts more emphasis on women travelers because according to us, Considering the socioeconomic scenario of Bangladesh, where at the same time women is the source of knowledge for the children and women face different problems and issues while traveling we thought, it would only be befitting to organise programs that help and contribute to the women travelers’ scenario in Bangladesh.”
The Facebook based selfie contest ‘Favorite Destination Selfie during Traveling’ and Photography Contest ‘Beautiful Bangladesh through Your Eyes’ came up next which emphasized on individual visits to favorite tourist destinations and the unexplored places within the country that have the potential to make it to the favorites’ list. Certificates were given to the contestants sending the top 3 (three) unusual yet extraordinary selfies and three photographs in the closing ceremony of the campaign. The winners of the selfie contest were – Tanzima Hridi. Sharin Linka Das and Bithi Afrin. On the other hand, Shenjuti Shabnam, Ummey Taslima Eva, and Sadia Sharmeen won the photography contest. Winners were provided with gift vouchers which included coupons for two nights stay at Royal Tulip Sea Pearl Beach resort, one-day visit to Dhaka Resort, and dinner at Pan Pacific.
Along with the contests and group discussion, a survey – ‘Identify need and demand of Women Travelers’ was conducted on women in order to have a holistic view of the requirements of the travelers. The survey responses show that 50 per cent of the respondents find entertainment as the purpose behind spending money during traveling. 68 per cent of the respondents agreed to the statement that improving security would make their travel more convenient.
The survey was conducted in University of Dhaka (DU), Daffodil International University (DIU), BRAC University, International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT), University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) and United International University (UIU).
This exciting campaign served the purpose of creating and promoting a “Women Travelers’ Network” which intends to bring together female tourists, media personnel, corporate, industry experts, and students in one place to stimulate the wanderlust of other potential women travelers in future.
The closing ceremony was adorned by the chief guest, Rashed Khan Menon MP. The Minister in his speech said, “The responsibility of bringing a breakthrough in tourism sector lies with the contribution of new generation. Bangladesh has been able to make its mark on world map as recently an ocean cruise ship has come here twice on it route. Women’s contribution in this progressive sector has been immense. If they start becoming more independent and take actions on their own for their safety, they will be able to travel much more freely. So, I wholeheartedly welcome this initiative from TripZip.”
