Proliferation of resorts

The growth of around 1,000 tourist resorts countrywide, nearly 200 in the greater Dhaka, would have been welcomed, had it taken place in a balanced manner. What ails a section of nature activists is the intrinsic clash between the mushrooming resorts and the agricultural lands coupled with forests around the resorts. Spending holidays at remote green resorts is now considered a dominant trend among the well-off socio-business classes as well as office executives. The underlying fact is what was once an hours-long fun-filled picnic in distant forests has now emerged as an event of time-out spent at a sprawling, exclusive venue complete with modern facilities. Over 60 resorts are there in the greater Gazipur district alone. There are both large and small resorts, their sizes varying from 30-to-160 acres to 3-to-5 acres respectively. Contrary to a roaring business in the sector, many others find themselves struggling.

In spite of these retreats' mixed, and thus unpredictable, performance, there is no dearth of entrepreneurial drive among a section of people. Many point the finger at this propensity for the lately mushrooming growth of the resorts. The real picture that prevails is there are different types of resorts in the greater Dhaka. A few relatively old resorts are said to make a minimum 30 per cent net profit annually. It occurs during the November-February cool and dry months, when the resorts' 'occupancy rate' jumps to nearly 100 per cent. During the rest of the year, the profit comes down to a humble 30 per cent. There is a noticeable flip side. Thanks to the continually increasing new resorts, a number of sub-standard and inexperienced establishments have entered the sector. For plausible reasons, it's difficult for many unsuspecting people to tell a genuine resort from an ersatz one.

A formidable challenge, however, is posed by the reckless resort entities doing brisk business in the country. They pay little heed to the harms they may be inflicting on the fast shrinking agro-lands and the green swathes close to their sprawling resort areas. In the long run, these encroachments in combination may end up being various types of environmental and food-related crises. A valuable advice from experts could, thus, be relentless efforts to be expended by the resort owners to safeguard the agricultural and forest lands while constructing their resort establishments.

At this point there is a need for making an assessment to determine if there is any necessity for so many resorts in a particular region before intervention by policymakers. According to the Tourism Resort Industries Association of Bangladesh (TRIAB), nearly Tk 340 billion has already been invested in the country's resort industry. Besides the investment, around 1.4 million people are directly and indirectly involved with the sector. An alarming aspect of the business is the infiltration of dubious entrepreneurs. These people set up small-size resorts, established on residential plots. These sites are often rented out to film units to be used as shooting locations. It has become an open secret that a major part of the resort plots is used for purposes other than those involving the sector. Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) keeps stressing measures to save agricultural and forest lands while constructing resorts. One can hardly ignore the fact that the country's burgeoning middleclass which cannot afford pleasure trips abroad need some recreational facilities at home. Resorts and tourist spots have been meeting that requirement. Now it should be the job of the relevant authorities to ensure that those facilities grow in a healthy manner without hurting environment and agricultural and forest lands.