Hartal, Political Unrest
Tourism industry fears loss during Eid holidays
Tourism industry people in Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong and the three hill districts feared a slump in their business due to declining number of tourists caused
by ongoing political unrest, including frequent hartals.
They said that the industry had been passing through tough times due to frequent hartals since early this year but expected to recover the losses during the coming Eid vacation when a huge number of local holiday makers usually visit Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and the hill districts.
But, they said, they were again worried about incurring more losses due to poor responses from local holiday makers in booking advance for passing the Eid vacation as Jamaat called a two-day hartal on August 12-13, just after the Eid vacation.
They said the local tourists who had earlier booked hotels and guest houses for Eid vacation had been seeking refund of their advance booking money and rescheduling their times for check-in.
‘Booking flow for the Eid vacation is comparatively 50 per cent less than that of the previous Eid vacation,’ Imran Hossain, marketing officer of Long Beach Hotel Ltd in Cox’s Bazar, told New Age.
He said that they had expected that they could recover huge losses in the past seven months during the coming Eid vacation, but ‘the response is very poor from both local and foreign tourists.’
Marketing officer of the five-star luxury hotel informed that just after Jamaat called the hartal, many tourists applied for refunding their advanced money and changing the schedule of check-in in the hotel to avoid the political troubles.
Front office manager of Hotel Seagull in Cox’s Bazar, Nur Uddin, said they had a full reservation for the Eid festival but many of the guests have now applied for rescheduling and canceling their bookings fearing political unrest.
Guest relations officer of Hotel The Cox Today, Kamrul Hasan, said that they had 60 per cent reservation for the next Eid vacation, but due to the two-day hartal after the Eid, most of the guests cancelled their advance bookings.
Tourism-based businesses in Cox’s Bazar, the country’s main tourist destination, consider the period from November to March as the peak season and April to October as the off-peak season.
But during the Eid vacation, whether it is on or off-peak season, hotels, motels and guest houses buzz with local and foreign tourists and the shopping malls and
markets witness a brisk business than any other time of the year.
About 200 hotels, motels and rest houses with an accommodation capacity of 40,000 guests were full for local and foreign visitors ahead of the Eid festival in the sea resort of Cox’ Bazar last year.
Similar situation prevails in the three hill districts–Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari– and in Chittagong. Management of hotels, motels and guest houses in the four districts claimed that they only received 40 to 50 per cent advance booking for Eid vacation this year due to the volatile political situation.
Rupom Das, assistant manager of Hotel Green Hill in Bandarban, said that only two of their rooms had been booked on the eve of this year’s Eid vacation. In hotel Purobi, only six rooms out of its 80 have been booked till today.
Md Sirajul Islam, general secretary of Badarban district tourist complex owners’ association, told New Age that generally during the Eid vacation Bandarban experiences overcrowded tourists and the hotels, motels and guest houses are usually fully booked some 15 days ahead of the vacation.
‘This year we got little response from the local tourists. We have around 4,000 accommodation in our hotels, motels and rest houses. But till today most of our accommodation remain vacant for Eid vacation,’ he added.
Marketing manager of Foy’s Lake Amusement World, one of leading tourist destinations in Chittagong, Atiqul Islam told New Age that during the Eid vacation tourists from different parts of the country thronged Foy’s Lake every year but this year the management fears of experiencing dull business due to hartal after the Eid and an uncertain political situation.
-With New Age input
