Tourist spots abuzz with holiday makers

Longer holiday and stable political climate helped tourist spots rope in increased tourists during the Eid and Durga Puja festivals.
Thousands of people thronged the tourist spots across the country especially the main spot Cox's Bazar.
Besides Cox's Bazar, other tourist spots such as Rangamati, Kuakata, Bandarban and St Martin's island also got a good response from the tourists.
Almost all guesthouses and hotels in tourist spots had been booked much early due to pressure from the tourists seeking to spend long festival holidays.
Many tourists who did not book rooms earlier stayed at private houses nearby the tourist spots for want of sufficient spaces at the hotels and guest houses.
Hoteliers and other professionals those are dependent on tourism business are hopeful of recovering losses suffered in the previous season due to the volatile political situation.
Industry insiders attributed the increased flow of tourists to growing habit of the urban middleclass to travel inside the country at affordable prices.
"We have registered 100 per cent early reservation even for the Eid day and for the next one week," Toufiqul Islam, manager of Hotel Sea Cox's told the FE over telephone.
"Usually, the tourism season starts in mid-October but this year it started at the beginning of the month due to the two main festivals of the Muslims and the Hindus. The tourist flow has more than doubled this year compared to that of previous years," he added.
Nazrul Islam, project head of Mirinja Tourist Complex at Bandarban said they have registered around 85 per cent advance bookings and rest of the rooms were occupied a day after the Eid.
"Now we are fully booked for next seven days."
"All types of businesses at the tourist spots across the country are having a good time due to the favourable environment this year," Sadique Ahsan, president of Bangladesh Hotel and Guest House Owners Association told the FE.
He said the brisk business this season would encourage many businessmen dependent on tourism to refrain from folding their business that was hit hard by political turmoil last year.   
"Our business was badly hit by the political unrest last year. Many of our fellow businessmen would have been forced to shut if the unfavourable situation would have continued this year," he added.
However, many tourists claimed that most hotels and motels in the tourist spots are overcharging due to the huge demand though the hotel owners and management denied the allegations.
"We had to pay more than double for a room as there were few rooms to book before Eid," Farha Akter, a tourist said.
Meanwhile, many tourists who did not book rooms in advance also claimed that they had been forced to manage spaces in hotels with the help of brokers at high rates.
"These middlemen are doing their business in connivance with the hotel management," she alleged.
However, tour operators and hoteliers say poor road conditions have seriously affected the country's vibrant tourism industry in recent times.
Dilapidated roads, especially on the Dhaka-Cox's Bazar route, have significantly affected domestic tourism in recent years, said Taufiq Uddin Ahmed, president of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh.
Currently, a traveller has to spend 18-20 hours on the road to go to Cox's Bazar from Dhaka, he said.
As a result, a large number of people now go abroad on holidays, Ahmed said.
Tourism industry would flourish more if the road condition and law and order situation could be improved, he added.

[email protected]