Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal: Shaping the Future of Sustainable Tourism

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal, CEO of Market n-Trance Holidays and First Vice-President of the Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB), is a tourism professional and sustainable tourism educator with nearly 17 years of experience in sustainable and educational tourism.

Alongside his professional career as a tour operator, Tomal has voluntarily worked to promote sustainable tourism, environmental awareness, biodiversity conservation and responsible tourism among children and young people. Through storytelling, photographs and real-life experiences, he has engaged more than 5,000 children and young people on issues including nature, wildlife, biodiversity, climate change and responsible tourism.

He is also a member of the Private Stakeholder Committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and serves as an adjunct faculty member at the American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB). His work brings together tourism, education and environmental sustainability.

Tomal recently spoke with Sadik Sagar of The Current View (TCV).

TCV: Could you briefly tell us about yourself and how you became involved in sustainable tourism?

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal: I am a tourism professional and tour operator. Alongside my professional career, I have been voluntarily working as a Sustainable Tourism Educator and Storyteller for nearly 17 years.

My core belief is simple: if we can teach children about nature, biodiversity and responsible tourism today, they can grow up to become tourism professionals who will contribute to building a more sustainable tourism sector tomorrow.

TCV: How did your work with children begin?

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal: It started quite naturally. During my travels, I began talking to children about nature and tourism. Over time, those informal conversations gradually developed into a regular initiative.

I do not restrict my work to a traditional classroom. Wherever I meet children, I try to engage them through stories, photographs and real-life experiences, helping them understand nature, biodiversity and responsible tourism in a simple and meaningful way.

TCV: What kinds of subjects do you teach children?

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal: I talk to them about flora, fauna, wildlife, vegetation, biodiversity, global warming, climate change and responsible tourism, often using simple stories that they can easily understand and remember.

I also encourage them to think about their future. If they eventually become tour operators, tour guides or other tourism professionals, I want them to understand that their responsibility goes beyond business. They must also respect nature, local communities, culture and heritage.

TCV: Why do you believe sustainable tourism education is so important?

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal: Because the future of tourism does not depend only on today’s tourists. It also depends on the future generation of tour operators, tour guides, hoteliers and tourism entrepreneurs.

If we can develop a sense of responsibility towards nature and people from an early age, those values can influence the professional decisions they make later in life.

For me, sustainable tourism education is therefore an investment in the future of the tourism industry itself.

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal with children

TCV: What would you consider the greatest achievement of your initiative?

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal: Over nearly 17 years, I have had the opportunity to engage with more than 5,000 children and young people on sustainable tourism, environmental awareness and biodiversity.

But I do not consider the number to be my greatest achievement. If even one child becomes more responsible towards nature, decides not to litter or learns not to disturb wildlife, I consider that a meaningful success.

TCV: Do you only tell stories, or do you involve children in practical activities as well?

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal: I strongly believe in combining storytelling with real-life experiences.

At different times, I have taken children into forests and natural areas to collect plastic, polythene, bottles and food packets left behind in nature.

These experiences help children understand something very important: protecting nature is not only the responsibility of the government or an organisation. It is a responsibility shared by every one of us.

TCV: As a tour operator, how does your educational work connect with your profession?

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal: To me, tourism business and sustainable tourism are not separate concepts.

As a tour operator, I take travellers to destinations. As a Sustainable Tourism Educator, I try to help them understand how they should behave once they are there—how to respect nature, local people, culture, heritage and biodiversity.

I want tourism business and responsibility to move forward together. A successful tourism business should not only create economic value; it should also create respect for the destination.

TCV: What kind of future do you want to see for the children you educate?

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal: I want today’s children to become tomorrow’s responsible tour operators, responsible tour guides and sustainable tourism entrepreneurs.

I want them to understand that being a tourism professional is not simply about selling a package or arranging a trip. It is also about protecting the destination—the environment, local communities, culture and heritage—that makes tourism possible in the first place.

TCV: Why do you introduce yourself as Bangladesh’s “First Sustainable Tourism Educator”?

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal: Interestingly, this title was not originally given to me by myself. A foreign tourist was the first person to describe me this way.

Once, a foreign tourist was observing my work with children—talking to them about nature, biodiversity, wildlife and responsible tourism. Suddenly, he asked me, “Are you a Sustainable Tourism Educator?”

I was a little surprised by the question.

He then explained, “I understand this word may not have been commonly used in Bangladesh yet. Perhaps you don’t realise it, but what you are doing is Sustainable Tourism Education.”

His words made me look at my own work from a different perspective.

I realised that what I had been doing for many years—educating children through storytelling about nature, biodiversity and responsible tourism—was, in fact, sustainable tourism education.

That description gradually became part of my professional identity. So, when I introduce myself as a Sustainable Tourism Educator, I do not mean it as a formal designation or academic title. It is an identity that reflects nearly 17 years of work, passion and commitment.

TCV: Where do you want to take this initiative in the future?

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal: I want this personal initiative to gradually grow into a broader sustainable tourism education movement.

I would like to work with children and young people across different tourism destinations in Bangladesh through storytelling, nature-awareness programmes, responsible traveller education and youth volunteer initiatives.

I also want to use digital platforms, photographs, videos and storytelling to reach children and young people beyond the places where I can physically be present.

My long-term vision is to help create a generation that understands tourism not simply as a business, but as a responsibility towards people, culture and nature.

TCV: What is the core philosophy behind your work?

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal: My philosophy is:

“The greatest investment in sustainable tourism is not infrastructure; it is a conscious human being.”

Today, I may tell one child a story.

Tomorrow, that child may become a tourism professional and influence the behaviour of thousands of travellers.

If that happens, the impact of one simple story can go far beyond that one child. That, to me, is the real meaning and purpose of my work.