Home ›› 16 Dec 2021 ›› World Biz
Around 90 per cent of hotels, motels and guest houses have been booked in Cox’s Bazar as hundreds of thousands of travellers poured into the popular tourist destination taking the opportunity of weekly holidays — Friday and Saturday — along with a public holiday, the Victory Day, that falls on Thursday.
The massive surge of tourists flocked to the country’s southeastern district, famous for having the world’s largest beach, where hotel owners said tourists have been heading to Cox’s Bazar since Wednesday afternoon getting a three-day holiday and now the beach town is abuzz with them.
Cox's Bazar Hotel, Motel and Guesthouse Owners' Association General Secretary Abul Kashem Sikder said around 90 per cent of more than 450 accommodations have already been booked while the rest have remained vacant for serving “special guests”.
Cox’s Bazar Marine Drive Hotel-Resort Owners’ Association General Secretary Mukhim Khan said there are no free rooms at the moment.
“We are trying to provide maximum services to the tourists.”
Meanwhile, the three consecutive holidays have led to a massive surge of tourists in Saint Martin's Island.
SM Kibria Khan, founding president of Tour Operators Association of Cox's Bazar, said at present there are seven tourist ships being operated on Teknaf-Saint Martin route, and one each on Cox's Bazar-Saint Martin, and Chattogram-Saint Martin routes.
He said the ships and the hotels in the island have also been almost 100 per cent booked for the three holidays.
Tourist police's Cox's Bazar Zone SP Md Zillur Rahman said as hundreds of thousands of tourists are staying here, they are working relentlessly to ensure their safety.
Khurshida Begum, of Dhaka, said although she came to Cox’s Bazar earlier, this time she noticed a lot of changes.
“I feel safe seeing the activities of the tourist police.”
Deputy Commissioner Md Mamunur Rashid said a number of mobile courts led by the executive magistrates are working to ensure that no tourist is harassed.
