Unrest cripples tourism sector since mid-July

The recent unrest and a rise in atrocities after the fall of Sheikh Hasina's regime have put the country's tourism sector in a dire strait for over a month.
Panic gripped people across the country as a student protest over the government job quota in early July, which turned violent in mid August, ended up in bloodshed, ousting Awami League government on August 5 and triggering vandalism and unrest across the country.
Tour operators said their businesses have been hit hard for a month because of the panic created by incidents like attacks, vandalism and killing after the AL government's fall.
The domestic tourism sector's annual turnover is about Tk 200 billion, according to the Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB).
Tour operators predict that the lackluster tourism business is likely to continue for at least one more month as people are still in fear.
"Business started to deteriorate from the second week of July and it was completely shut down after July 17, forcing many visitors to cancel their booking," said Md Saiful Islam, director (accounts) of TOAB.
He said they are not getting requisitions for tour packages from visitors or organizations as the overall situation has not been normal yet.
"We have not yet calculated how much the business has been affected, but the turnover is set to decline this year compared to the previous year," said Mr Islam, also the owner of A-One Tourism.
A large number of tourists arrive in Sunamganj Haor during this season, and the tourist influx continues for four months (June to September). Businesses surrounding the tourist spot earn Tk 1.50 billion to Tk 2.0 billion every year.
But this year, the popular spot lost a huge number of visitors during the peak season due to the complete shutdown since the start of the violent unrest, Mr Islam noted.
Besides local tourism sector, local tourists' foreign visits have been impacted as well. The yearly turnover of outbound tourism is nearly Tk 120 billion, the TOAB director said.
Key domestic popular sites - Cox's Bazar and Sylhet - also receive a significant number of tourists during the monsoon.
"However, last month I haven't received any queries from visitors and many have cancelled tour bookings, as the environment is still not conducive to travelling," said Faisal Ahmed, chief executive officer of South Asian Tourism.
"I may have to spend another month sitting idle," he added.
Hotels, resorts and motels in the holiday destinations have remained almost empty now.
Mohammad Emran Hossain, sales manager of Long Beach Hotel in Cox'z Bazar, told the FE that hotel business in Cox's Bazar witnessed a disastrous situation during the student protest.
He further said when the movement intensified after July 17, guests' arrivals dropped to almost zero and the situation continued until August 7.
The hotel was totally empty for three to four days during this period, and each of the remaining days received only five to six tourists, he added.
Although the arrival of guests increased over the last two days, it was too low to bring back business.
Mr Emran said his hotel earns Tk 1 million per day in a normal situation, but the income averaged Tk 20,000-25,000 in the last two days, with only 15-20 tourists on average.
Long Beach Hotel has 104 rooms, which get fully booked on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in a normal situation and average 70-75 rooms in the other days of the week, said the official, hoping that the situation will return to normal soon.
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