BEZA hops on tourism parks in Cox’s Bazar

Tourism parks in Sabrang, Naf and Sonadiain Cox’s Bazar have the potential to bring a revolutionary change in Bangladesh’s tourism sector, owing to their geographical significance among South Asian countries.

To this end, the government is also carrying on the development work of the three tourism parks in full swing to provide various facilities for domestic and foreign tourists along the world’s longest sea beach.

The Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority is establishing the parks there considering their massive potential for tourism and investment.

The state-run entity is expected to welcome tourists at Sabrang Tourism Park by the end of the next year.

“Once it was beyond anyone’s thinking that such attractive tourism parks will be established in the coastal areas. Now, we are decorating the sites in full swing for local and foreign tourists. We hope we can welcome tourists at Sabrang Tourism Park completing our works by December 2022,” BEZA’s former Executive Chairman Paban Chowdhury said.

He told The Business Post that around 10,000 tourists would be allowed every day there. “Tourists will be allowed in a disciplined manner in those parks. These parks can reduce the lack of attractive tourism spots in Bangladesh in future,” he also added.

Sabrang Tourism Park

The park will be the first exclusive tourism spot in Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar encompassing an area of 1,027 acres. Worksat the park is going on tirelessly aiming to complete the most important parts by 2022.

The seafront tourism park will have a good number of facilities including five-star hotel complexes, eco-tourism elements, floating jetty, marine aquarium, sea cruise, eco-cottage, oceanarium and floating restaurants.

According to BEZA, different companies are investing there to attract tourists. The state-owned agency has already signed deals with several companies including Inter-Asia Group, Sunset Bay Ltd, Great Outdoor and Adventure Ltd, Moonlight Overseas, Datasoft System Bangladesh Limited, and Green Orchard Hotel and Resort Ltd for constructing the accommodation facilities in the tourism park.

Inter-Asia Group will invest $90 million in the park. The investor will build cultural centre, museum, amphitheater, amusement park, and hotels and resorts that will create employment. These are expected to generate employment for around 6,000 people.

Sunset Bay Ltd will invest $19.2 million and build a 10-storey five-star hotel, swimming pool, restaurant, convention centre, bar and leisure spots. They will create employment for around 350 people there.

Green Orchard Hotel and Resort Ltd will invest $7 million to build hotel, recreation centre and convention centre. Meanwhile, Datasoft System Bangladesh Limited will invest $5.5 million for the development of infrastructure while Moonlight Overseas will invest $7.8 million.

Great Outdoor and Adventure Ltd will invest around $6 million to build scuba diving, parasailing, paddleboarding, beach volleyball and other sports arrangements.

Paban Chowdhury said, “ BEZA has got huge response from local and international investors who would like to invest at the Sabrang Tourism Park. I hope BEZA can fully open it to tourists in December 2022, though development work of the park will continue further in the next several years.”

“Thousands of domestic and foreign tourists will visit the parks and huge employment will also be generated there in future,” he added.

Paban said hundreds of people were already visiting the sites and enjoying their leisure time. “The park will contribute more to the national economy in future. BEZA is providing multiple incentives to investors there.”

Tour operators thought the park in Teknaf will turn into a hotspot as tourists can enjoy sunrise and sunset from Sabrang zero point. They can even see Saint Martin’s Island from there.

Naf Tourism Park

It will be the first island-based tourism park in Bangladesh encompassing an area of 271 acres. The Jaliardwip island on the river Naf has scenic beauty with a hill view of both Myanmar and Bangladesh.

“The development work of the park will be completed gradually. A good number of local people will get jobs in the park,” Paban Chowdhury said.

He added that they were trying to set attractive spots providing various amusement facilities and entertainment for tourists.

Recently, the executive committee of the National Economic Council approved 10 projects including Sabrang, Naf and Sonadia tourism parks involving an estimated cost of Tk 11,901.33 crore for setting up a modern and high-frequency telecommunication network to be established from January 2021 to June 2023.

According to BEZA, the specialties of the Naf Tourism Park are a theme cruise for country’s lone coral reef island Saint Martin’sIsland, five-star hotel, restaurant, honeymoon park, multi-formatted food court and themed pavilions, jungle, jogging tracks, night camps, eco-friendly resorts, mini-golf course, light and sound show, entertainment zone, infant swimming pool, cable car, sky bridge, oceanarium, water sports complex, gaming parlours, birds-watching and viewing tower, harbour bridge, hanging cable car and hanging bridge.

The park is just 400 metres off the Teknaf land port and 90km away from Cox’s Bazar airport.

Sonadia Eco-Tourism Park

The eco-tourism park located at Sonadia island of Maheshkhaliin Cox’s Bazar on 9,467 acres, which was adopted by the BEZA on March 27, 2017, from the district administration of Cox’s Bazar. To set it up, the BEZA initially planned to use only 30 per cent of the space so that there is no adverse impact on the environment.

Paban Chowdhury said people were living there illegally had been fishing by illegal means, which are very dangerous for the environment and biodiversity. “To build the eco-tourism park, all illegal establishments will be evicted. Planned tourism park will create a lot of foreign direct investment (FDI) and employment,” he added.

He further said they had adopted a master plan to build a new tourism city in Cox’s Bazar. “BEZA is planning to build administrative buildings and cottages there.”

The BEZA plans to connect the port with bridges that will be completed by 2030 and till then, it plans to use ferries for transportation. The plans include marine parks, museums, marine cruises, water sports and small shopping centres.

The president of the Tour Operators’ Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) Md Rafeuzzaman said the BEZA initiative would pose an exclusive potential for the region. An increase of tourists by around 10 per cent was being expected after completing the parks, he added.

“To bring a revolutionary change to the tourism sector, Cox’s Bazar should be directly connected with different Asian countries including Singapore, Thailand, the Maldives, Malaysia and India so that tourists can visit Bangladesh through air and water routes easily,” he told The Business Post.

He added that generally, foreign tourists travel to any country for one or two weeks. “If we can develop our connectivity with them, the number of tourists will increase here. Various facilities including sound accommodation and communication have to be improved to attract more foreign tourists,” he said. Rafeuzzaman said the government should establish good connectivity between the zero point of Teknaf and Shah PorirDwip to attract domestic and foreign tourists.

“Around 40 lakh people are employed in the tourism sector as tour operators, staff at hotels, motels and resorts, travel agents, tourist guides, and also in transportation, cruising and airlines. Nearly 1.20 crore local and foreign tourists travel to different touring spots each year. Of them, around five lakh foreign tourists travel to Bangladesh per year,” he added.

Rafeuzzaman said the tourism industry added 4.7 per cent to the country’s GDP in 2019, amounting to Tk 6,300 crore. However, it had to experience a loss of nearly Tk 20,000 crore in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Bangladesh is a potential destination for tourism; thus, more attention should be paid to this sector.