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Outbound travellers sceptic

Sayeda Akter
Local passengers are cancelling their bookings for travels to major tourist destinations Thailand and India, due to a political unrest in Bangkok and terrorist attacks in Mumbai, said local tour operators yesterday.
“At least 95 percent of the advance bookings that we received earlier have been cancelled due to the prevailing situations in Bangkok and Mumbai,” said Iftakhar Alam Bhuiyan, CEO of New Discovery Tours and Logistic, a major tour operator that organises overseas travels.
Operations resumed at Bangkok's main international airport only yesterday. A Thai Airways flight to Sydney left the Bangkok airport, the first international departure since protesters ended an eight-day blockade.
The flag carrier's flight left Suvarnabhumi international airport, carrying 388 passengers, many of them Australian tourists stranded by the airport closures, airline officials said, AFP reported.
For Bangladesh, this is the peak season for travelling out of the country, thanks to winter and Eid vacations.
Tour operators estimate that about 15,000 tourists go abroad a year during this time, where Thailand and India attract the largest numbers.
Tour operators also offer competitive packages to attract customers. Industry people said family trips and a growing trend of corporate offices to organise annual meetings abroad is increasing.
Four tour operators organise travel to foreign destinations: Discovery Tours and Logistic, Galaxy Travel International, New Discovery Tours and Logistic and Ananas Holiday.
Iftakhar said: "More than 200 advance bookings of our clients have been cancelled till today. A minimum of five people would have showed up perbooking."
He said all the operators have to face huge losses in turnover due to the circumstances, as the major revenue of these operators come in during this period.
Zahirul Alam Bhuiyan, CEO of Discovery Tours and Logistic, said around 250 advance bookings, including a large corporate booking of 220 people for an annual conference in Bangkok, had been cancelled.
“We mainly organise trips for families and corporate officials. We fear more cancellations before Eid as well,” he said.
Syed Golam Kader, general manager of Galaxy Travel International, said they have to face difficulty of other kinds as well, such as to help tourists stranded in Bangkok Airport.
Most passengers have changed their travel destination to other countries instead.
Hanif Zakaria, area manager of Emirates in Bangladesh, said they have gained more passengers on route to Dubai.
“We are witnessing a change in the travel routes of passengers, who are now preferring travel to Dubai,” Zakariasaid.
“The jump is not huge, about 1.5 percent more than the usual.”