Tourism industry feels pain of pre-election uncertainty

Kamrun Nahar The growing political uncertainty has taken a heavy toll on the country's hospitality and tourism industry as the business is down by 50 per cent against last year during the peak time, said industry insiders. Most of the inbound tour operators experienced either cancellation of previous bookings or shrink in the size of the groups. Domestic tourists are cautious about moving to any places or reluctant to come in or leave the capital. The tourism and hospitality sector has been facing the knife of the political turmoil since the eruption of the movement at Shahbagh. The last hit came when many countries issued 'red alert' for their citizens branding Bangladesh as a risky country to visit. Bengal Tours Ltd executive director Masud Hossain said his company handles about 4,500 foreign tourists annually, which peaks during November-February period. But this year the number will come down to 2,000 as many groups have already cancelled their visit to Bangladesh due to political uncertainty. "We handled about 3,000 tourists during November-February period last year which will not be more than 1,500 this year. More than 80 groups comprised of three to 10 people have cancelled their bookings so far on safety and security ground," he told the FE. There are hardly any leisure tourists now coming to Bangladesh. Some visitors, mainly NGO people or businesses, are coming, he added. Bengal Tours received 3,566 tourists in 2010-11 registering 31 per cent growth against 2005-06, 4,075 in 2011-12 with 50 per cent growth and 3,490 in 2012-13, showing 29 per cent growth. The revenue growth was 67 per cent in 2010-11, 74 per cent in 2011-12 and 63 per cent in 2012-13 against the base year 2005-06. Echoing Mr Masud, Ajiyer Fair Trade Tourism chief executive officer Shahid Hussain Shamim said five groups comprised of 128 people from Japan, UK and Germany have cancelled their bookings since February and another group of 13 people from Japan has just cancelled their booking, fearing the political uncertainty after 25 of this month. "This year the inquiry and booking was good. But we've lost our credibility to the foreigners. Now they have been suffering from lack of confidence on our information, although we have a good reputation that we provide true information," said Mr Shamim. He fears the business to fall by 30 per cent in terms of revenue and 50 per cent in terms of number of visitors. A top executive of a five-star hotel in the city said political uncertainty always affects their business as they mostly depend on the airlines crews and business visitors. The deadline of 25 October set by the opposition has forced many visitors cancel their bookings. "Though October-March is the peak period for us, we are not that busy. Our occupancy rate was supposed to be 90 per cent now which has come down to 65 per cent," he said, preferring anonymity. He said they have to take various expense control, spoilage, wastage, energy saving, cost cutting measures to adjust with the bad business situation. "We even send some of our staffs on leave, stop hiring, and cancel overtime during this type of situation," he said, adding: "We do not know when this crisis will be over and how we will run our operation." Another hotelier at Motijheel area said a hartal or blockade of one day takes a toll on their business for four days as hotels become empty on the previous night of hartal, the hartal day and the next day. "We usually handle business visitors who come from outside the capital," he said. "Our occupancy rate was 65 per cent during this time last year but this year it is about five per cent because of the 25 October deadline," he said.