Bangladesh’s top tourist destination Cox’s Bazar has been hit hard by the ongoing blockade and hartals enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
Business owners there said they had already incurred huge losses as winter, which usually sees a great influx of tourists, was very dull this year.
Tourists, both domestic and foreign, have been discouraged to visit the popular beach town due to the rampant arson attacks on highways and lack of transportation.
As a result, more than hundred hotels and guest houses have been shut down temporarily. Many are laying off and taking other cost cutting measures.
Faisal Shah, general manager (commercial) of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, said: “November to March is the peak season for tourism in Cox’s Bazar. Usually every hotel has 70-80% occupancy during this time. But since the blockade began, it has come down to 10-15%.”
He added that last year the beach town saw about 50,000 tourists during the peak season. But this season a startlingly low number, about 150, tourists visited Cox’s Bazar so far.
“More than 400 hotels, motels, guest houses and cottages are being forced to close down,” he added.
Communication Officer of Ocean Paradise, a top hotel in the town, Syed Alamgir, said their business was going really slow because of the hartals and blockade.
“Last season, we were fully booked around this time. But now we have only 5% occupancy. We had to send many employees on leave without pay,” he said.
General Secretary of Cox’s Bazar Hotel Motel Guest House Owners Association, Abul Kashem Shikdar and Financial Secretary Shafiqur Rahman said about 2,000 employees had been fired so far.
“More than 10,000 room bookings have been cancelled and no new reservations have been made,” he claimed adding that the estimated loss since January 4 was about Tk250 crore.
“Apart from the hotels, other tourism dependent businesses, such as restaurants, shopping centres, dry fish stores and other small trades have also been bearing the brunt of the anti-government campaign. About 10,000 people working in this sector have become almost unemployed.”
Towfiq Rahman, director of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh, said international tourists were not coming to Bangladesh because of the political situation.
“Already, 15,000 tourists have cancelled their tours. If the situation improves quickly, we would still face a loss of Tk200 crore. But if it further deteriorates, the loss would be beyond Tk1,000 crore.”
A recent visit to the popular tourist spots of Kolatoli beach, historical Buddhist monastries, Inani beach, Maheshkhali and Teknaf found these places empty and devoid of tourists.
Many hotels, even after offering handsome discounts, were not being able to draw customers. The restaurants along the beach were also empty.
General Manager of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation Md Kamruzzaman feared long-term consequences if efforts were not taken immediately to alleviate the situation.
