Our tourist sites could use an upgrade
I was sitting with a few journalist friends in a Cox’s Bazar newspaper office on Christmas Eve. On our way there, I saw the town swarming with thousands of people.
There were also a few foreign tourists. The beach was congested with similar number of tourists. It looked like almost everybody was touring Cox’s Bazar, as the Christmas holiday added some flavour to the two-day weekend.
I learned that about 200,000 tourists were staying in the town’s hotels, motels, and guest houses. I couldn’t find a hotel room and after completing my office chore there, decided to start for Dhaka on a night coach. It was difficult to walk on the streets due to the crowd and our favourite tourist town looked like a mess.
However, my journalist friends were quite happy. They thought their town has regained life after several years. With the tourists coming over, the local economy was benefitting. The tourists would come but not as many as this year. This year, the local residents are loving the crowd.
However, some things are not quite right in our beloved tourist town. A section of the opportunist businessmen are taking undue advantage of this situation. The hotels and guest houses have increased their rent to an unusual rate.
They’re charging Tk3000-4000 for a Tk500 room. The Tk50 fare on Easy Bike has increased to Tk300. The food prices have gone up unusually high. However, the local administration and the tourist police say they’re working round the clock to ensure that no tourist is harassed in any way.
The season this year is economically very promising. The crowd says it all; the people do want to visit Cox’s Bazar. Their budget for their trips shows that they do have some money to spare for sightseeing.
The tourists have simple expectations: They want a good communication system, comfortable places to stay, and less harassment during their stay in the town.
It is always a pleasure to spend time on the beach, but after a long day on the sand, there’s actually nothing much to do in town. Most visitors spend the evening roaming around the shopping centres. Apart from that, there’s not much one can do.
I’ve never heard a tourist who went to a movie theatre in Cox’s Bazar. There is alsoan urgent need to establish cineplexes. Recently, though, a hotel has launched a cineplex in its premises. I don’t think cineplexes, in general, would make a loss even if there are fewer numbers of tourists throughout the year.
Bathing in the sea cannot be the sole entertainment in Cox’s Bazar. Again, there is hardly a nice place from where one can watch the sun set. I’ve seen various types of facilities to watch the sunset or sunrise in many countries.
Bangladeshis across the country have always shown their interests to visit Cox’s Bazar. I remember the first thing we used to do after our SSC examinations was to visit this tourist spot. At that time, it was a tranquil town with rickshaw bells ringing and occasional buzzing of the engines of the three-wheelers. There were very few hotels and guest houses.
As the number of hotels and resorts increased, so did the price of land, and the businessmen took special interest to develop businesses there. Now, one cannot walk on the streets due to traffic congestion. I didn’t get an aesthetic feel when I looked at the construction and localities in the town.
A seaside town should be more beautiful than what it is today; a seaside locality should look like a piece of art. It should be more organised and colourful. Unfortunately, we are yet to develop our Cox’s Bazar in that fashion.
The highway to the town is mired with too many markets. The illegal bus, taxi, and tempo stands have been causing havoc with traffic congestion.
The vehicles cannot run at a normal speed, even though the roads are quite wide. Normally, it takes three hours to reach Cox’s Bazar from Chittagong; but currently, it takes more than five hours.
We hear the government is working on establishing a rail link between Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong, but there hasn’t been any update regarding it.
We hear the government is working on establishing a rail link between Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong, but there hasn’t been any update regarding it. The number of tourists would go up significantly, if there is a train service to reach the town — which can also turn Cox’s Bazar into an economic zone
The number of tourists would go up significantly if there was a train service to reach the town — which can also turn Cox’s Bazar into an economic zone; and then the face of the town would see a sea change.
I asked a journalist friend whether Cox’s Bazar has a nice book shop from where I could buy local and international books as well as gifts and souvenirs.
He replied in the negative; there’s no such shop. I’ve been to a few seaside towns where I saw nice book-and-souvenir shops filled with crowds of happy people. Trust me; a book shop would do great business in Cox’s Bazar.
The work of upgrading Cox’s Bazar’s airport to an international one is in progress. This is fantastic news for the tourist hub. However, the local residents think the work is taking unusually long.
The first phase has been complete but since the authorities have increased its budget a few times, the progress of the work has been hampered. This airport is likely to be one of the regional hubs for the global airline industry.
We can better our Cox’s Bazar manifolds with a little preparation and planning.
Ekram Kabir is a fiction writer.
Source : Dhaka Tribune