82% Cox’s Bazar hotels run without licence

Eighty-two per cent of hotels in the tourist district of Cox’s Bazar operate without any permission from the Deputy Commissioner’s Office, said officials in the district administration.

Cox’s Bazar is home to over 450 different accommodation facilities such as hotels, motels, guest houses, cottages, whereas, Saint Martin’s Island — another popular tourist spot lying about 9 km south of the tip of the Teknaf peninsula— is home to another 150 accommodation facilities, according to the Cox’s Bazar Hotel-Motel and Guest House Owners’ Association.

Swapan Kanti Pal, nazir at Cox’s Bazar district administration, said, “Most of the hotels in the district are unregistered and operating without any trade licence depriving the government crores of takas in revenues.”

There are only 82 registered hotels in Cox’s Bazar city, two in Saint Martin’s and two in Teknaf town with valid trade licences and the rest are running without any authorisation from the government, he said.

Swapan Kanti said usually hotels get star-rating after meeting certain conditions mentioned in the Bangladesh Hotel and Restaurant Rules 2016.

The district administration awards licence to one-star and two-star hotels and the tourism ministry awards licence to hotels rated three-star and above.

In Cox’s Bazar, the district administration rates the hotels based on the number of their total rooms. Hotels having 1 to 50 rooms get a one-star rating, 51 to 100 rooms get a two-star rating and most hotels in Cox’s Bazar are rated as two-star and below, said Swapan.

As most of the hotels in Cox’s Bazar have two-star or below ratings, the local administration is responsible for providing them with a trade licence, he said.

A one-star hotel needs to deposit Tk 30,000 to the government’s treasury, and a two-star hotel needs to deposit Tk 50,000. In the case of renewal, the former needs to deposit Tk 5,000 and the latter needs to deposit Tk 10,000, said officials.

“A hotel needs seven different licenses to run business. Of these, trade license from the district administration is mandatory,” said Swapan Kanti.

Some hoteliers who have valid trade licences alleged that the district administration remained indifferent and inactive in carrying out their regulatory activity to stop such unauthorised business.

Mizanur Rahman, the owner of Ikra Beach Hotel, told The Business Post that they were not even aware of the fact that having a trade licence is mandatory to run the businesses. “We did not get any notification or warning from any regulator,” added Mizanur.

Denying the allegations, Cox’s Bazar Nezarat Deputy Collector Imran Zahid said, “We regularly inspect these unregistered hotels and fine them through mobile courts. They are more willing to pay the fine than securing a trade licence for reasons unknown.”

He also said that they published a notification on the newspapers requesting the hoteliers to obtain trade licenses.

Cox’s Bazar Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Mohammad Amin Al Parvez, who is in charge of tourism-related issues in the district, said, “It is unfortunate that only 82 hotels are registered and have a valid trade licence. We are planning for action against the law violators.”