70% hotel rooms booked as tourists flock Cox’s Bazar beach

Almost 70 percent of hotels in the Cox’s Bazar seabeach area have been booked ahead of Pahela Falgun (first day of spring according to Bangla calendar) and Valentine’s Day.

Hotel owners expect that the remaining rooms will also be booked in the days to come.

Tourists are starting to gather in Cox’s Bazar to enjoy the beauty of beach, the longest in world.

M Rezaul Karim Reza, president of the Tour Operator Owners Association of Cox’s Bazar (TOAC), told Business Insider Bangladesh that more than one lakh tourists could be accommodated in the Cox’s Bazar and 70 to 75 percent hotel rooms had been booked at present.

“Tourists, who earlier failed to execute their plans to travel the beach due to Covid-19 pandemic, are gathering here this time,” Reza said, adding that the weekend before the Valentine’s Day (Sunday) also turned to be an advantage for them.

There are 470 hotels and motels including cottages, and around 2,000 food outlets in the seabeach area.

Tourism business was seriously affected when the area came under government shutdown due to the pandemic on March 18, 2020. Several thousand workers became jobless. But the business started to bounce back when the shutdown was relaxed in August.

Mentioning overall loss in the tourism sector in the area, Kalim Ullah, general secretary of the Hotel-Motel Guest House Officers Association, said the lockdown was in the off-season and so the businesses could recover the losses to some extent.

Meanwhile, the local administration has tightened the security measure ahead of Pahela Falgun and Valentine’s Day.

Tourist police have beefed up surveillance and patrolling the spots, said Mamunur Rashid, deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar.

A security management committee, comprised by tourist police and volunteers, formed to oversee the issues hold regular weekly meeting, he said.

The police and volunteers will also monitor if the tourists comply with the government health guideline, the DC said.