Business Report
Political violence and continued blockades enforced by the opposition have driven the country’s tourism industry in Cox’s Bazar to the brink forcing hoteliers and tour operators to lay off their employees to minimize losses.
The winter, particularly November-February is the peak season for tourists to the resort town, but the hotel occupancy rate has come down to almost zero now at the world’s longest sea beach.
If the situation continues many hotels and tour operators will have to close their business, the industry sources said. “We never faced such a situation since we opened the hotel service in Cox’s Bazar in 2002,” said an official of Seagull Hotel operating 181 rooms hotel services.
He said, the occupancy rate has come down to 5 to 7 percent though it should have been around 80-90 per cent at this peak season. He continued, “A luxury hotel like ours cannot run with such a low occupancy rate.”
He said they have already sent one-third of their 280 staffs on leave to bring down the losses and added that the continued stand off will only force them to close the business. Next two to three months will be critical to their existence.
The country witnessed 13 days of shutdowns and blockades so far this month, in addition to 12 days in November. The blockades and political violence have almost delinked the resort town with the capital and other districts as the intercity transport like railways and highway transportation system have almost come to a halt. No foreign tourists or visitors from various part of the country are coming here unlike in normal situation when hundreds and thousands would throng through the beaches and front line streets.
Hotel The Cox Today, yet another luxury hotel which would have nearly 80 per cent occupancy during this time of the season had only guests in its five rooms on Saturday last week out of 276 rooms.
Hotel functionaries said their operating cost is around Tk 1 crore per month. They have sent 50 staff out of 300 on compulsory leave to overcome losses. “Only political stability can save the situation,” said the functionary.
General manager of Hotel Media International said they have 100 rooms and they have laid off 30 of their 100 staff so far and fear they may have further slice the losses. “Our monthly operational cost is around Tk 10 lakh but we are running with losses as the occupancy rate has come down to almost zero,” he said. Shut down is the only option if the situation continues, he said.
Around two lakh tourists visit Cox’s Bazar everyday from December to February, but the number hardly crosses 1,000 this month, said a senior functionary of Cox’s Bazar Hotel-Motel and Guest House Owners Association. The resort town has around 350 hotels, motels and guest houses.
He said, not only the tourists, corporate clients are also cancelling their bookings for the month. Green Holiday Tours was preparing for several corporate conferences; the programmes were confirmed in August and September. But those were all cancelled now, said a senior staff.
He said the tourism industry is teetering on the verge of disaster. Blockades and shutdowns have also put the restaurants and shops in a tight rope. Owner of Rodela, a restaurant on Kolatoli Road said his daily sale was above Tk 1 lakh in a day in December last year. On Saturday, they had a sale of only Tk 2,200. The picture was the same in almost all other restaurants and food outlets.
Shop-owners who took loans from banks and NGOs to run their business are the worst sufferers. They are failing to repay instalments. Many can’t even pay the rents and utility bills, claimed president of a shop-owners’ platform of Jhinuk market. Most shops are running in losses, he said.
Shop-owners at Burmese market, a popular destination for tourists are not getting visitors and without sales they are having a tough time. They open the shutters and keep on waiting for visitors but they are not around. “No tourist is coming,” said Aangsin Rakhaine, president of the shop-owners’ association of the market.
Senior member of Cox’s Bazar Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the tourism industry is going through the worst times in the last forty years. They said the government must resolve the crisis soon and moreover should give stimulus packages for the entrepreneurs of the sector including interest waive on bank loans to return the industry to functioning again.
Other major tourist destinations like the Sundarbans, St Martin’s Island, Sylhet, Chittagong, Rangamati and Bandarban are also suffering from shortage of tourists. This sector had fetched Tk 19,300 crore, or 2.1 per cent of the country’s GDP in 2012 and was expected to improve the performance this year to contribute to 7.7 per cent in the GDP this year. It has the registered investment of Tk 3,730 crore which is 1.6 per cent of the total investments for the year, but returns to the investment is now almost zero forcing the industry to high level of uncertainty.
Source: Weekly Holiday
