Tourist sites reopen on Aug 19

CHATTOGRAM, Aug 12: The government has decided to resume tourism and reopen tourist spots in greater Chattogram from August 19, raising a ray of hope among stakeholders.
Hotels and motels in Cox's Bazar, Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban have suffered a setback for Covid-19 pandemic for the past several months.
Sources said the administration shut down all tourist spots in three hill districts on April 01 due to the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus afresh.
Zoo and other places of interest in Chattogram also remained closed during lockdown restrictions.
The movement of ship to Saint Martin's was stopped and the Cox's Bazar district administration limited the presence of tourists at hotels.
The hard-pressed owners of hotels and motels have long demanded the reopening of all tourist spots, but the government did not respond to their call due to increased Covid-19 casualties.
Many backward-linkage businesses allied with tourism also came to a halt for the closing of hotels, motels and tourist spots in the region.
Shahed Islam, a hard-up restaurateur at Cox's Bazar, told the FE that he became impoverished due to the closing of tourism in Cox's Bazar for months.
Shah Alam Chowdhury, former president of Hotel and Motel Owners Association in Cox's Bazar, says: "Tourism is one of the main income sources in Cox's Bazar and in hill districts."
"But tourism business was hampered for the outbreak of coronavirus…" he added.
Chattogram Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Mahbubul Alam said, "After a long time, the government is going to resume tourism from August 19."

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