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Cox's Bazar hotels eye brisk business amid political calm

Sarwar A Chowdhury
The hospitality industry in Cox’s Bazar is expecting a brisk business this tourism season as thousands of tourists are flocking to the bayside city, thanks to the political calm in the country.
Hoteliers may recover the losses they suffered just a year ago due to violent political activities ahead of the national polls in January this year.
The hotel occupancy rate, which had dropped to almost zero last December and forced many to shut operations temporarily, has already risen to above 60 percent; the figure is expected to be close to 100 percent in
the next two weeks.
"The occupancy rate was 60-65 percent earlier this month, but for the next 18 to 20 days, we are fully booked," said Mohammed Imran Humayun Khan, sales and marketing manager of Long Beach Hotel that has 104 rooms.
He said they were hit hard last year by political instability. "It's the peak season and we earn a major portion of our revenue during this time."
November-February is the peak season for tourists, with December being the most preferred month. Around one lakh tourists come to the town everyday during the month of December.
Khan, however, expressed disappointment over a lack of attention of the government to the development of Cox's Bazar, the world's longest unbroken sandy beach.
"The development we see is the contribution of the private sector," he said.
Sheikh Imrul Islam Siddique, chief executive of Seagull Hotel, which has 181 rooms, said tourist arrivals are better this time compared to last year. "The occupancy rate has so far reached 50-60 percent which had dropped below 10 percent during the same period last year." However, he said the rate should have been around 80-90 percent as it is the peak season. "We are expecting a higher turnout of local tourists after the end of final exams, especially at school levels," Siddique added.
He said transport is still not up to standards, which is a major barrier to the tourism industry. "Inadequate bus services, huge traffic on roads, poor railway and high plane fare are some discouraging factors."
In addition to individuals, corporate houses have also started to gather in Cox's Bazar to hold their annual events.
Green Holiday Tours has arranged several corporate conferences for5,000 people in Cox's Bazar this season, up to January.
"The programmes have been arranged in 7 to 8 phases," said Borhan Uddin, the tour operator's chief executive.
Last year, many corporate clients had cancelled their programmes due to political instability, he said. "Even though there is no political violence, travellers suffer for the huge traffic on roads."
He arranged a tour of 400 people from a multinational company in Dhaka to Cox's Bazar recently. "But it took almost 20 hours, instead of the usual ten, for them to reach as the buses were stuck in traffic," he said.
Omar Sultan, president of Cox's Bazar Hotel-Motel and Guest House Owners Association, said although the hospitality industry is recovering, the number of visitors is not satisfactory yet.
"The rush of tourists usually begins in November. But we are yet to witness that rush," he said, hoping that the situation may improve later of this month. Souvenir shops too are seeing a rise in customers since early this month.
"We are seeing tourists come and the number is increasing gradually,” said Mumu Rakhain, a shop owner at the traditional Burmese market.
Anwar Ullah, a shopkeeper at the Jhinuk market at Laboni Point, said their sales have picked up as a good number of tourists have gathered in recent days.
The travel and tourism sector contributed around Tk 22,200 crore, or 2.1 percent, to the country's gross domestic product in 2013, according to a study by World Travel and Tourism Council.
In 2013, investment in the sector stood at around Tk 4,000 crore, which was 1.5 percent oftotal investments fortheyear.