Many sleep under open sky as visitors swarm tourist spots

Hundreds of tourists had to spend nights under the open sky in Cox’s Bazar and Sajek of Rangamati as resort and hotel owners failed to accommodate a sudden influx of visitors at the weekend extended by an extra holiday on the occasion of Christmas.

Hoteliers said winter is the peak season for tourism. On top of it, the three-day holiday brought a huge swarm of visitors to popular tourist attractions, leading to a room crunch at the hospitality facilities.

Hundreds of tourists had to spend the night in mosques, cars or even under the open sky, they said.

Faruk Hossain, a private jobholder, was one of the thousands of people visiting Sajek in Rangamati. One of the most popular tourist spots in the country, Sajek is known for its scenic beauty, and mountainous landscape, and due to its high altitude, offers a chance to live in the clouds.

“The whole place was full of tourists. Many were looking for a room but failed to get any. I was saved as I had booked a room before coming here,” said Faruk.

Despite its massive popularity, Sajek has seen remarkable growth in cottages and resorts in recent years. But on Saturday, the surge of visitors made it all look insufficient.

Sajek’s Cottage Malik Samiti Organising Secretary Rahul Chakma Jon told The Business Post that although Sajek has 112 cottages to accommodate around 3,500 to 4,000 tourists. But around 6,000-7,000 tourists came here during the holidays.

He said the committee had to arrange accommodation for additional tourists in their clubs, mosques and local houses. Still, many were left without a roof over their heads.

Habibur Rahman, owner of Meghraj Resort, said, “Most of the cottages in Sajek are booked a month in advance due to the winter season and three consecutive government holidays. My cottage has seven rooms and all are booked.”

He said “The three-day holiday brought double the number of tourists than our capacity. Many tourists suffered without getting a room, having to stay in the open air or in cars or in local mosques.

“Many others left in the afternoon without getting a room,” he said.

A similar scenario played out in the tourist town of Cox’s Bazar, where hundreds spent nights on the beach.

Locals said tourists had gathered at different points of the beach since Friday morning. The hotels were crowded. The roads saw long periods of traffic jams as tourists came down in flocks.

Visiting the spot, a couple, Lucky Wahid and Sunny Murad told The Business Post that they have been to Cox’s Bazar before. But this is the first time they came with their whole family.

But their joy was slightly diminished because even though they managed to get a room, the food prices were unusually high.

Restaurants are charging higher than usual, complained the couple.

Hasibur Rahman, an NGO worker, also made a similar complaint.

Habibur said he arrived in Cox’s Bazar on Friday.

“From the time of my arrival, I had to pay almost double for everything including food. Restaurants are charging Tk 600 for just one bowl of beef curry,” he said.

The vehicle fare is also higher than usual times, he added.

According to the tourist police, more than five lakh tourists gathered in Cox’s Bazar during the holidays.

Zillur Rahman, police superintendent of Tourist Police Cox’s Bazar, said there was no hole in the security arrangement for the tourists. Additional officers were deployed in various tourist spots in Cox’s Bazar.