Bangladesh’s massive air ticket market, with monthly sales exceeding Tk 1,200 crore, is facing a crisis of confidence that threatens to undermine years of digital transformation in the travel industry. Once celebrated for making ticket booking faster, more competitive and accessible, the online travel agency (OTA) sector is now grappling with the fallout from a series of high-profile frauds that have shaken consumer trust and prompted sweeping regulatory intervention.

The latest and most damaging case involves Flight Expert (FEBD). On July 13, 2026, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) filed a money laundering case against the company, alleging that it embezzled and laundered nearly Tk 35 crore. Investigators say the firm attracted customers and sub-agents with unusually steep discounts, collected advance payments, and then failed to issue airline tickets.

According to the investigation, the company’s Managing Director, Salman Bin Rashid Shah Sayeem, fled to Canada in August 2025, leaving behind stranded travellers, unpaid agents and several employees who were later arrested. Those employees have maintained that they were merely carrying out instructions and were abandoned after the company collapsed.

The Flight Expert scandal, however, is only one part of a wider pattern. In recent months, Fly Far International and Travel Business Portal also shut down abruptly, leaving customers and business partners with significant financial losses. Industry insiders estimate that hundreds of crores of taka remain unaccounted for across the three cases.

Investigators believe these companies used complex networks of shell entities and layered banking transactions to move funds, making it difficult for authorities to trace and recover the money. Such schemes not only complicate criminal investigations but also diminish public confidence in the country's rapidly expanding online travel market.

The fallout has extended far beyond the companies involved. Concerned about widespread fraud, the government has introduced the Travel Agency Registration and Control Ordinance–2026, arguing that stricter oversight is necessary to protect consumers from fake bookings, unfair pricing and financial malpractice.

Yet many legitimate businesses fear they are being penalised for the misconduct of a handful of fraudulent operators.

Among the provisions is the requirement for OTAs to maintain a Tk 10 million bank guarantee. The ordinance also effectively prohibits business-to-business (B2B) ticket sales, a long-established model through which smaller agencies purchase tickets from larger accredited firms.

Industry representatives warn that the B2B restriction could force nearly 5,000 non-IATA travel agencies out of business because they lack direct ticketing authority from airlines. Many fear the measure will reduce competition, limit consumer choice and concentrate the market in the hands of a few large players with sufficient financial resources.

Critics argue that the current situation reflects years of regulatory neglect followed by an abrupt policy response. For much of the past decade, OTAs operated with limited oversight, allowing aggressive discounting, questionable pricing practices and weak financial safeguards to become commonplace. Instead of addressing those problems gradually through stronger monitoring and targeted enforcement, the government is now imposing broad restrictions after the damage has already been done.

As a result, many in the industry fear that the digital travel ecosystem painstakingly built over the past decade could suffer lasting harm. While stronger consumer protection is widely supported, stakeholders argue that reforms should target fraudulent operators without undermining the thousands of legitimate agencies that have helped modernise Bangladesh's travel market.