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Published : 28 Jun 2026, 01:24 AM
In the narrow streets of central Kolkata long known as “Mini Bangladesh”, shopkeepers, hoteliers and restaurant owners are allowing themselves a cautious hope: Bangladeshi tourists may finally return.
India’s decision to resume issuing tourist visas to Bangladeshi citizens has raised expectations of a business revival in Marquis Street, Sudder Street, Free School Street, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Collin Lane and New Market - areas that have long depended heavily on visitors from across the border.
The announcement by Indian envoy to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi has brought relief to businesses hit hard since visa services were suspended nearly two years ago after Bangladesh’s 2024 July Uprising, The Times of India reported.
Around 350 hotels in the area have seen occupancy and average room tariffs fall by nearly half, while restaurants, foreign exchange dealers, transport operators, apparel stores and about 3,000 shopkeepers at New Market are hoping the return of Bangladeshi travellers will bring back customers.
Traders say daily business at New Market has fallen from around Rs 5, billion to Rs 500 million.
“The entire belt in central Kolkata depends overwhelmingly on Bangladeshi tourists,” Calcutta Hotels, Guest Houses and Restaurants Owners’ Association President Harmit Singh told The Times of India.
He said hotel occupancy and average room rents had dropped by about 50 percent. Rooms that once fetched around Rs 2,000 now go for Rs 900 to Rs 1,000, while some hotels and restaurants have shut altogether.
“Foreign exchange shops, transport operators and apparel stores are all looking forward to the arrival of Bangladeshi tourists,” Singh said.
But the optimism is tempered by caution. Business owners recall that an earlier expectation of visa resumption from May 6 did not materialise.
“People are keeping their fingers crossed,” said Rajesh Sethi, general secretary of the hotel owners’ association. “Once visas are issued, hoteliers will get busy reopening rooms that are shut and shops will stock up.”
In New Market, traders say business has fallen by more than 70 percent since India stopped issuing visas in August 2024 following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.
“Around 3,000 shops in New Market have been just about surviving these past couple of years,” said Ashok Gupta, president of the SS Hogg Market Traders Association.
Before the visa suspension, he said, Bangladeshi tourists generated almost 70 to 75 percent of business in the market.
For some traders, the collapse has been stark.
Md Mustafa, who sells chocolates, dry fruits and cosmetics, said sales that once took a day to achieve now take a month.
For Kolkata’s “Mini Bangladesh”, the visa announcement is more than a diplomatic decision. It is a chance for shuttered rooms to reopen, shelves to be restocked and a familiar cross-border economy to breathe again.
