The country’s tourism sector is facing a leaner time during this Eid ul-Azha as a good number of people have called off their holiday trip due to untimely torrential rain and cheaper outbound tourist destinations.
Currently, most hotels in Cox’s Bazar, Rangamati and Bandarban witness a lacklustre room occupancy.
The hotels in Cox’s Bazar have only 20% to 30% occupancy, which might shoot up to 60%-70% during the Eid, but still that would be much lower than that of the last years when the occupancy stood at nearly 100%, hotel sources said.
Jashim Uddin Ahmed, senior manager, Seagull Hotel, said a maximum number of rooms were booked one or two weeks before Eid ul-Azha last year, but this year the scenario is totally different.
The hotelier attributed untimely rain and affordable packages offered by different airlines to outbound tourists and a little Eid vacation this year to decline in their business.
The Shibal Hotel Manager Zalal Uddin Md Akbar echoed the same as Jashim.
He said the rain has hampered their business over the last couple of months.
“We were waiting for Eid ul-Azha to recover the losses, but till today, hotel occupancy is not satisfactory.”
On the contrary, a lot of people are planning to go outside the country to rejoice in their vacation.
Affordable air packages are leading the holidaymakers to opt for going abroad to enjoy their Eid holidays.
Flydubai, AirAsia, Emirates, Airarabia, Malindo have offered packages for outbound tourists of the country.
In the meantime, the UAE-based Flybubai announced 30% discount on airfare from Dhaka to 90 destinations to tap Bangladeshi passengers ahead of Eid ul-Azha.
The Malaysia-based AirAsia and Malindo Air are drawing passengers due to their low fares in the South Asia and far East Asia.
Air Arabi operates Dhaka-Sharjah services en-route to middle-eastern countries at a lowest fare in comparison with other airlines operating services in the route. Air Arabia’s low fare destinations are Istanbul, Cairo, Alexandria, Moscow, Nairobi, Amman and Tiblisi are also favourite destinations for Bangladeshi tourists.
With five to six flights to and from Dhaka every day, Air Arabia’s weekly flights stand at between 38 and 40, the highest number of flights operated by any foreign airline in this route.
Throughout September and Eid ul-Azha, Emirates is expecting over 1,90,000 passengers to arrive at Dubai from destinations in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, UK, India, Germany, Australia, US and South Africa.
Drukair, Bhutan national flag carrier, has also offered special discount for the SAARC countrys’ visitors. As the most popular destination, Nepal, is yet to overcome earthquake shock, hundreds of Bangladeshi travellers now opt to go to Thimphu for making their holidays.
Tito Siddique, managing director of Excellence Asia Limited, a tour operator, said due to rainy season domestic tourists movement is less compared that last year.
An unexpected rain is also hampering travellers’ trip to different tourist spots.
Moreover, there is a trend that during Eid ul-Azha most people rush home celebrate their Eid with their near and dear ones.
“We offer 20% discount on room and cottage fares during the Eid vacation to draw travellers, but at this moment our room occupancy of the resort is not adequate, said Syed Yameenul Haq, head of sales, The Place Resort in Habiganj.
