Tourism Day: Cox’s Bazar has many foreign visitors. But how many are tourists?

No one, it seems, actually knows how many foreign tourists visit Cox’s Bazar each year.

The district administration, airport authorities, hotel and motel operators and even the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation have no reliable count of how many foreigners travel to the beach town purely as tourists.

Officials say a large share of the foreign nationals seen in Cox’s Bazar are there for work, including with NGOs and international organisations.

They may rent local flats or stay in hotels and visit tourist spots in their spare time, but tourism is not necessarily the purpose of their trip.

Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner A Mannan said: “A large section of foreign nationals come to Cox’s Bazar for development projects, international organisations or work linked to the Rohingya camps.

“There’s no system to separately identify those who’ve come purely for tourism.”

“If you ask me whether there’s data showing someone has come specifically as a tourist, I don’t know if anyone has that. I certainly don’t,” he added.

The deputy commissioner said the district administration’s tourism cell had also been unable to establish a separate system for tracking foreign tourists.

Tourists, or Just Foreign Nationals?

Foreign nationals are certainly present in Cox’s Bazar, but not all of them can be counted as tourists.

Cox’s Bazar International Airport keeps no separate data on foreign tourists either.

Its Acting Director Md Golam Mostafa said the airport has no separate count of international holidaymakers.

Foreign nationals do pass through the airport, but they are not categorised by purpose of travel, he said, adding that the number of foreign tourists appeared to be “nothing significant”.

Some Data Does Reach Police

Police receive information on some foreign nationals, although that too provides no complete picture of how many tourists visit Cox’s Bazar.

Additional Superintendent of Police (DSB) Md Firoz Kabir said citizens of certain countries are required to report their whereabouts and other details to police.

“We have that data. Beyond that, we don’t have any count,” he said.

He suggested airport authorities might have information on foreign tourist numbers, although airport officials told bdnews24.com they keep no separate count.

Foreign Tourists ‘Very Few’

Raihan Uddin Ahmed, manager of Hotel Shaibal, run by the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, also described the number of foreign tourists as “very few”.

Foreign nationals working for international organisations or travelling to Cox’s Bazar for other purposes are a regular presence, but leisure tourists remain rare, he said.

“What you’d call a genuine tourist, that’s very rare here. There’s no number worth mentioning.”

Asked why foreign tourist numbers remained low, he said: “Having hotels to stay in alone doesn’t build international tourism. Tourists need quality service, entertainment, nightlife, parks, cinemas and various other facilities.”

Security, he added, was equally important.

Business Community Sees Gaps

Abdul Shukkur, president of the Cox’s Bazar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the picture for international tourism was very different from the large flow of domestic visitors to the district.

Although Cox’s Bazar receives large numbers of domestic tourists throughout the year, he said there were effectively no “dedicated” international leisure tourists coming to the destination.

He also pointed to what he described as inadequate promotion of Cox’s Bazar through Bangladesh’s missions and consulates abroad.

Shukkur suggested turning Cox’s Bazar airport into an international aviation hub, offering incentives to foreign airlines and promoting the destination internationally through public-private initiatives.

‘Tourism-Friendly Environment Needed’

Cox’s Bazar has a long beach, hills, forests, islands and marine biodiversity, and has long been one of Bangladesh’s most popular domestic tourism destinations.

But its appeal to local travellers has yet to translate into a significant international tourism market.

Mohammad Shoeb Ur Rahman, associate professor at Dhaka University’s Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, said Cox’s Bazar’s infrastructure and tourism environment needed to be improved before more foreign visitors could be attracted.

“The main obstacle to attracting foreign tourists is that we haven’t been able to showcase or promote Cox’s Bazar properly on the world stage. And even before promotion, there’s a major gap in ensuring the infrastructure and environment that should have come first.”

He said even some foreigners who visit Cox’s Bazar after hearing about the destination leave without the experience they had hoped for because of travel difficulties and other inconveniences.

Marking World Tourism Day, he also suggested using digital technology and artificial intelligence to build Cox’s Bazar’s international profile.

A Separate Zone for Foreigners?

Some tourism experts also advocate a dedicated “exclusive zone” for foreign tourists.

Nusrat Jahan, an associate professor at the same department, stressed the need to create an environment better suited to international visitors.

She said elements of Bangladeshi culture could themselves be developed into tourism products, citing Baul music sessions, jamdani and muslin exhibitions, artwork and local cuisine.

International-standard entertainment centres or theme parks, a planned night market and beachside dining could also help attract foreign visitors, she said.

However, private eco-resort operators say the picture is not quite as bleak as suggestions that Cox’s Bazar attracts almost no foreign tourists.

Rana Karmakar, manager of Mermaid Eco Resort, said international visitors often know about the resort before arriving and seek it out once in Cox’s Bazar.

He said international media coverage of Bangladesh’s sustainable ecotourism had helped attract foreign guests.

Many people in the tourism industry and administration believe better security, modern transport and more international-standard leisure facilities will be needed if Cox’s Bazar is to attract significantly more foreign tourists, even if international flights are eventually launched from the airport.

Businessman Abed Hasan Sagor said plans were under discussion to develop Cox’s Bazar into an international tourism destination, including an international airport and new hotels and infrastructure.

But before any of that, one basic question remains unanswered: how many foreign tourists actually visit Cox’s Bazar each year?

For now, no one from the district administration to the tourism industry appears to have the answer.