Guest occupancy drops sharply
Hundred of foreigners mainly businessmen have vacated Dhaka with the beginning of yet another round of general strikes called by the mainstream opposition parties.
City’s posh hotel operators told New Age that occupancy rate by the foreign guests and other events had reduced to half since last month.Moreover, they were facing cancellation of bookings with the growing political tension and vandalism by the political activists in the capital and other major cities.
World Bank has cancelled the launching of a report scheduled to be held in a city hotel on Thursday.
Besides, many local and international business entities which stage programmes in the city’s posh hotels almost suspended such events in recent weeks.
Hotel Sonargoan managing director ASM Mustafa Kamal said like many other sectors posh hotels have already suffered badly due to political unrest.
He said room occupancy in the hotel on Wednesday was 55 per cent which was 75 per cent one year ago.
To overcome the problem, Sonargaon has offered special packages on food and other services, he said.
Hotel operators said things have complicated further for the city’s posh hotels because of cautions by foreign countries including the US.
The US embassy in Dhaka recommended that their citizens should ‘avoid unnecessary travel’ in Bangladesh due to general strikes which could turn violent.
Shahidus Sadeque, marketing and communications manager of Ruposhi Bangla, said they were the worst victims of the present political situation because of its location.
He said business in Ruposhi Bangla is so dull that it incurred losses of Tk 9.5 crore in the last three months.
He said the number of foreign guests which account for 95 per cent of room occupancy plummeted sharply during the same period. Nearly 200 bookings for room and other services have been cancelled, he said.
Yameenul Huq, assistant sales director of Westin Hotel, said many foreigners were canceling room bookings due to political situation.
Besides, banquets and others programmes have remained suspended on the hatral days forcing the hotel to incur losses, he said.
Hotel Radisson, the other posh hotel in the city at Airport Road, is facing similar situation.
Its public relation officer Rizwana Azam said they were not in position to share business related information right now.
Others operators said the city’s four posh hotel recorded 12 per cent growth in last year. But this year the business has already gone down by four per cent, they said.
They said they would face huge losses if the present political situation lingers further.
-With New Age input
