OUR CORRESPONDENT
COX'S BAZAR, Oct 08: The beach town of Cox's Bazar has witnessed an overwhelming flow of tourists from different parts of the country, marking the weekend, tourism fair and beach carnivals.
About six 0.6 million tourists flocked to Cox's Bazar in the last seven days from September 27 to October 03.
During this period, the tourism sector saw a business of Tk6.0 billion.
The tourist town has more than 500 residential hotels and motels and about 90 to 95 per cent of them were booked for five consecutive days.
As a result, hotel owners enjoyed brisk business thanks to the long holiday.
An average of 0.1 million of tourists stayed in Cox's Bazar every day.
A significant number of tourists started leaving the beach town on Tuesday.
Apart from tourist season, generally 20 to 25 per cent of tourists stay in Cox's Bazar from Thursday to Sunday.
The months of November, December and January are a peak season for tourism.
During the time, on an average, occupancy rates of the hotels in Cox's Bazar hover 85 to 90 per cent every day.
Tourists Riduan and Yasmin at Sugandha Point on the beach on Thursday afternoon said, "We came to visit Cox's Bazar on October 01, hearing a special discount on the occasion of the tourism fair, but no discount was given at the hotel where we booked the room. Moreover, restaurants charged us exorbitant prices. About Tk 30,000 was spent from October 01 to 05."
Shahid Uddin, a tourist from Kotbari in Comilla said, "I stayed in Cox's Bazar for the last two days. I wanted to see the tourism fair organised here. I listened to the songs of famous artistes of the country, I enjoyed Rakhine dance. On the whole, this trip to Cox's Bazar was very enjoyable. However, the discounts that were mentioned on hotel rent and food restaurants were not available."
Chief Executive of Hotel Sea Gal Imrul Siddiqui Rumi said the tourists who stayed at the hotel were very happy with the tourism fair that was held last week.
"We offered maximum discounts on hotel fares to tourists," he added,
Abu Morshed Chowdhury, president of Cox's Bazar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the actual number of tourists arriving in Cox's Bazar was not found.
Truly correct information is nowhere to be found, he added.
At different times, the Chamber carried out surveys on the tourist businesses.
In the surveys, a tourist was found to have spent an average of Tk10,000 to 15,000.
According to the information given by Cox's Bazar Hotel Motel Owners Association, a tourism fair and beach carnival were held in Cox's Bazar from September 27 to October 03.
During this time, more than 0.6 million tourists came to Cox's Bazar. More than 500 hotels and resorts in the town saw around 90-95 per cent of their rooms booked for five days.
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