Bangladesh aims to revive pandemic-hit tourism

Bangladesh is exploring ways to kick-start tourism in line with the health and safety protocols after the coronavirus pandemic laid waste to the industry, inflicting billions of takas in losses.

A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) prepared in this regard is awaiting government approval. Meanwhile, the Cox's Bazar district administration is planning to reopen tourist spots with reduced capacity.

However, there remains a sense of scepticism about whether the panic-stricken people will visit the spots at all amid the crisis. Tour operators have said financial assistance is the first thing that is required to revive the ailing sector.

Two major tourist destinations in Bangladesh -- the Cox's Bazar sea beach and the St Martin’s Island -- have been shut for months due to the pandemic.

As a result, hundreds of hotels, motels, more than 2,000 food shops, markets, as well as thousands of tourism-dependent businesses were shuttered. More than 150,000 people, including about 40,000 officers and employees and over 150 tour operators, have become unemployed.

Cox's Bazar was left without tourists since the start of the lockdown on Mar 26, Abul Kalam Shikder, general secretary of Cox's Bazar Hotel-Motel and Guest House Owners' Association, told bdnews24.com. The situation is still the same, he said.

Bandarban’s Chimbuk hill has reopened, but it is yet to draw tourists amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“About 80 percent of the total earnings from the country’s tourism sector comes from Cox's Bazar. Although there is no proper account, it can be said from our various studies and surveys that the annual turnover from tourism in Cox's Bazar is about Tk 100 billion.”

The Bangladesh International Hotel Association has claimed its hotels have suffered losses totalling an estimated Tk 25 billion so far due to the pandemic.

“There are no tourists in Cox’s Bazar. The number of guests in most hotels has dropped significantly. Many hotels have shut down,” Mohsin Haque Himel, secretary of the association, said.

However, discussions were underway with the district's deputy commissioner to revive the tourism sector after Eid, he said.

A committee meeting will be held after Eid with the reopening of a handful of tourist spots being mooted, according to Cox's Bazar DC Kamal Hossain.

There are about 200 leisure resorts in the country, most of which are located in Gazipur.

If people want to visit them, they can do so by following the health directives, Mostafa Mahmud Ali, owner of ‘Chhuti’ resort, told bdnews24.com. "However, we doubt the resort will be able to fill even 10 percent of its capacity," he added.

Resorts like Meghmati Village in Mymensingh are struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Md Rafiuzzaman, the president of the Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh, said the government's plan to resuscitate the tourism industry will not be successful unless it provides quick financial assistance to the affected stakeholders.

"The government will give some instructions on how to accept tourists through the SOP. Before that, we need to get our businesses running. If the government does not provide any financial assistance, the industry will collapse.”

According to him, all sectors of tourism, except aviation, have suffered losses amounting to Tk 59 billion between January and mid-July.

Big hotels like Grand Sultan in Moulvibazar are waiting for foreign guests.

Rafiuzzaman lamented the fact that despite repeated demands to the government for incentives and loan opportunities, no action has been taken yet.

The work of assessing the damage to the tourism industry and formulating a recovery plan with financial assistance for the victims is in its final stage, Mohammad Saiful Hasan, deputy director (Planning and Research) of Bangladesh Tourism Board, told bdnews24.com

“This recovery plan is huge. Guidelines are being prepared for its implementation.”