With the younger generation's tendency towards involvement in indoor games and facilities geared to indulging in their pastime nowadays, some businesses such as fitness clubs and billiard centres have emerged as promising sectors.
But, the picture underwent a change soon after the first coronavirus cases were recorded in Bangladesh in March.
Stakeholders at fitness and billiard centres say when the businesses were gaining popularity in the country and becoming profitable enterprises, the lockdown imposed to roll back the spread of the deadly virus caused the businesses to go into a nosedive.
Fitness clubs
In the United States, fitness clubs rocked by Covid-19 closures face a swell of bankruptcies with more than $10 billion of revenue wiped out as clients ditch memberships, according to the investment bank Harrison Co, local media reported in the US.
Almost passing through an emerging period, Dhaka-based fitness clubs suffered a huge loss in the prevailing situation and are now offering clients the chance of paying only monthly subscriptions as a way of ensuring their existence.
Altaf Hossen Ronnie, founding convener of Dhaka Gym Owners' Association, said: "When we were trying to turn the sector into a profitable one with the establishment of forums, the pandemic appeared. The gym sector is incurring huge losses next to the restaurant sector in Bangladesh.
"There are over 300 small and big gymnasiums in Dhaka," said Ronnie, who has also been a bodybuilding champion in the country for 10 consecutive years.
"In various gyms, prices of bodybuilding equipment range from Tk25 lakh to over Tk1 crore. With all these expensive equipment, a gym owner has had to pay rent of at least Tk50,000 to Tk2 lakh each month to the landlord despite having earned no income since April," he added.
"The authorities of many gyms have been forced to shut down their establishments, unable to afford the salaries of trainers and other staff. For the same reason, many owners have cut staff jobs," added Ronnie, a former chief gym instructor at the Westin and Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka.
"After the end of the lockdown, we encouraged our members to come to the gym and called for new membership that would require no admission charge. They only have to pay the monthly fee.
"However, the response is very poor as clients are concerned about their health owing to the growing pace of coronavirus infection," Ronnie added.
Billiard centres
Rakib Ahmed, general secretary of the newly-formed Dhaka Billiard Center Owners' Association, said the member-bodies of the organization had launched their centres after the lockdown was lifted on May 30 through maintaining health regulations.
He said: "The players used to come in the afternoon after finishing official and personal work. But we can now continue our operations till 4pm as per government instructions.
"Our peak time is from the afternoon to the evening. Even as we resume business, we are going to incur more losses due to the new time schedule.
"There is an investment of over Tk10 crore in this sector in Dhaka. We are passing through a devastating situation. Many people have shut down their businesses due to huge losses.
Rakib urged the government to permit them to keep the pool clubs open up to 8pm at least so that they can minimize their losses.
Sazzad Hossain, a member of the pool committee of Bangladesh Billiard and Snooker Federation, also called for support from the government as he claimed that the sector had, after cricket, drawn the interest of the youth of the country.
"The property owners are not giving discounts to this emerging industry; rather we are facing harassment while importing the billiard equipment at the port," Sazzad, also an importer of pool goods, added.
He claimed that he had to pay Tk10 lakh demurrage for a container stuck in Chittagong port as the government had imposed strict rules on import of some categorized items under a Harmonized System (HS) Code, where casino and billiard items are both included under the same protocol.
Sazzad added: "There are around 200 professional pool clubs in the country and 70 of those are in Dhaka. As many as 18 clubs have been shut down already."
Safwan Ahmed, a student of a private university, said he was getting bored at not being able to indulge in his pastime in the afternoon after finishing all his online classes.
He said: "The pool clubs and centres need to be more health conscious. I want to go there but cannot, due to safety concerns."
