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Every year during two Eid seasons, the beach city of Cox's Bazar transforms into a busy holiday destination for millions of tourists in the country.
However, this year during the Eid-ul-Azha vacation, the popular tourist spot wore a deserted look as most hotels, motels, resorts and restaurants remained shut due to the countrywide strict lockdown enforced by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the country.
“Due to the lack of tourists, a total of Tk 2,000 crore has been lost in the tourism sectors of Cox's Bazar in just one week of Eid-ul-Azha,” Cox’s Bazar’s Federation of Tourism Services Association of Bangladesh Secretary Abul Kashem Shikder told The Business Post.
“Although we have no official data regarding Cox’s Bazar tourism sector, we usually calculate the entire business year of the sector to be of 335 days, excluding the holy month of Ramadan. The peak season usually lasts for 60 days.
“The peak season includes seven days for Eid-ul-Azha, ten days on Eid-ul-Fitr and other religious and government holidays. The rest of the year covers 30 per cent of the sectors annual trade. Usually, the sector makes between Tk 15,000 crore to Tk 20,000 crores in a year,” he added.
“Their idea is that in one week of Eid-ul-Azha holidays, the turnover should be around Tk 200 crore every day. Thus, we failed to earn an estimated Tk 1,400 crore during this Eid holiday as everything here has been kept closed due to the lockdown,” said Kashem, who is also secretary of Cox’s Bazar’s Hotel Motel Guest House Owners Samity.
Stakeholders said most hotel and restaurant owners were not interested to open up for business as tourists did not show up during the holidays due to a strict lockdown enforced soon after the vacations ended.
“The Eid vacations ended on July 22 and strict lockdown was enforced from July 23 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. As tourists did not show interest to visit Cox’s Bazar, hotel owners were not willing to resume their operations,” Cox's Bazar Chamber of Commerce and Industries President Abu Morshed Chowdhury Khoka said.
“As we have no research in this regard, it has become difficult to reconcile the losses and liabilities of investors in the tourism sector. However, we can assume that at least 20 per cent of the year-round tourism business in Cox's Bazar takes place during the Eid-ul-Azha holidays. But this year, the whole thing went down due to the lockdown and no business took place,” he told The Business Post.
“Cox's Bazar has over 500 hotel-resorts and over 200 restaurants, where some 50,000 people are directly or indirectly involved. Almost everyone in the city is now unemployed,” he said.
Shamsul Alam, a CNG driver in Cox's Bazar, told The Business Post that he used to earn at least Tk 1,000 a day during this season, and at least Tk 300 per day during normal times. But, he is now sitting idle at his home due to the lockdown.
Similarly, dry fish trader Mahmudul Hasan Emon, who proprietor of Cox's Bazar Shutki Bitan, told The Business Post, "When people used to gather on Eid or other holidays, our dry fish business makes good money. But, the pandemic situation had caused huge losses to our business, and we were forced to close it down.”
Bashirullah Rana, who used to work as a salesman at a clothing shop in Cox's Bazar, said he was having a hard time to make his ends meet as his shop remains closed due to the lockdown.
Stakeholders also expressed fears that the sector might lose its skilled workforce as many are now being forced to look for alternative sources of income to sustain their livelihood.
“We are losing the skilled workforce of the tourism industry in Cox's Bazar, such as receptionists, hotel staff and chefs. Many of them are now shifting to other professions. Without them, the beauty of this industry will be greatly hampered,” Abul Kashem Shikder said.
“Money is needed to hold on to them. Besides, at least Tk 5 crore is needed for the maintenance of hotels and resorts every day for the entire industry. So, the government should pay attention to keep this industry alive,” he added.
Earlier on July 22, the Bangladesh Bank announced a fresh stimulus package of Tk 1,000 crore for hotel, motel and theme park, hit by ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The owners of the business entities will be able to receive fund from the package at a 4 per cent interest rate, the central bank said in a circular.
