Tourist spots across the nation are being significantly affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, incurring a significant amount of revenue loss as visitors decline in number.
In Dinajpur, popular tourist spots such as Swapnapuri, Ashurar Beel, Ramsagar Dighi, Kantaji Temple, among other places, have not been seeing many visitors lately due to the coronavirus scare.
In this regard, Abdul Rahim, who works in Ramsagar, said: “We haven’t seen many tourists around here for the past two weeks. Just weeks ago, people in groups came for a picnic here.”
Thus businesses that are dependent on tourism are now in an idle state.
In Chittagong, Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) has imposed a ban on gatherings at Patenga beach in the city to prevent a possible countrywide spread of coronavirus.
CMP Commissioner Mahabubur Rahman imposed the ban on Wednesday. The ban will remain effective until further notice.
In Bandarban, the Thanchi upazila administration is discouraging tourists from visiting tourist spots in the upazila as a preventive measure against a spread of the coronavirus disease.
Thanchi Upazila Nirbahi Officer Ariful Haque Mridul has discouraged all enthusiastic tourists from visiting Thanchi before March 31. He apologized for the inconvenience and expected everyone’s cooperation in this matter.
There are numerous tourist spots, including Tindu, Boro Pathor, Nafakhum, Remakrir Mukh, in Thanchi, that draw thousands of tourists every year.
In Cox’s Bazar, the district administration has discouraged tourists from visiting and gathering at the sea beach to prevent a possible coronavirus outbreak.
Deputy Commissioner Kamal Hossain said: “We are not yet banning visits to the sea beach but only discouraging them.”
Meanwhile, due to the fall in the number of visitors and hotel reservations, the hotel industry along with businesses reliant on tourists face the grim prospect of losing revenue.
Bangladesh has recorded its first death from coronavirus, while four new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed, taking the total number of confirmed coronavirus patients in Bangladesh to 14, according to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) on Wednesday.
Covid-19 has killed over 7,800 people around the world as the pandemic has continued to spread.