We urge the government to provide the loans at zero interest rate

In a welcome move the Bangladesh Bank on Thursday declared a stimulus package worth Tk 1,000 crore for hotels, motels and theme parks reeling under the coronavirus pandemic and the consequent business slowdown.

Just when the sector was gaining ground and was reaching a takeoff stage the pandemic began and the government had to enforce lockdowns at regular intervals. According to industry insiders the tourism sector had to incur a loss of over Tk 20,000 crore since the beginning of the pandemic. The rising infection rate has dealt yet another blow to the sector. About four million people involved in the industry are suffering immensely. As a matter of fact, the magnitude of the loss to the sector has not been rigorously assessed and quantified to help the policy makers decide about the nature and extent incentives/stimuli that need to be provide to survive let alone revamp the sector. The owners of these hospitality facilities are naturally finding it extremely difficult to pay salaries and benefits to their employees. This newly declared stimulus package will hopefully provide immediate relief to the workers of hotels, motels and theme parks. Owners of hotels and theme parks having trade licenses will be able to get loans from the scheme in the form of working capital at a 4 per cent interest rate. And the money they will receive will be used to pay salaries to the employees. We appreciate the decision of the government as the stimulus will help cushion the shock of the industry to a great extent.

Since the very beginning of the pandemic its devastating impact on tourism was felt worldwide and Bangladesh has not been an exception. Even then after the initial lockdowns were eased many domestic tourists started visiting the tourist spots. Media reports highlighted the desperation of these tourists to move out of their homes and visit the sites of their choices. However soon the authorities imposed stringent bans on visiting tourist spots. Owners of hospitality facilities were asked to discourage eager people from staying at their accommodations. In addition to the government directives fear of contracting the disease has led to potential tourists dropping their tour programmes. With the popular tourist spots lie vacant, hotels and motels closed and the means of reaching the spots unavailable the sector stakeholders has been gripped by a sense of foreboding.

The travel and tourism industry has indisputably come across an unprecedented collapse because of the pandemic. Even after the lockdown ends, travelling is not going to become normal any time soon. International travellers will not choose Bangladesh as their first choice when the pandemic slows down. The Philippines have initiated online training schemes for tourism stakeholders on how to build a hygienic tourism experience to attract foreign tourists. Bangladesh can take such initiatives to promote the country as a new tourism hub. In the post-pandemic world, tourists will be opting for those experiences that promote the health and well-being of people and the planet, the tourism industry should focus on these aspects. To conclude, efforts to develop a strategic framework should be started as early as possible for early post-pandemic recovery of the tourism and hospitality industry.

The government should put emphasize on public-private partnership to promote tourism in the country to recover from the losses caused by the pandemic. The partnership can enhance marketing and promotion campaign, market access for tourism businesses and develop strategic alliance among the stakeholders. We appreciate the government’s initiative to bail out ailing sectors including the tourism sector. However as this is a stimulus package, we urge the government to provide the loans at zero interest rate. It is essential to ensure that the workers are paid their salaries regularly. Yet it also should be noted that the investors are incurring huge losses. We wish that in future stimulus packages take the interests of the owners of hotels, motels and theme parks into account as well.