Economic Reporter :
Local administration has decided to reopen the sea beaches, hotel-motels and tourist spots in Cox’s Bazar municipality on a limited scale from August 17, five months into the closure due to the outbreak of coronavirus.
The decision was taken at a meeting of district administration’s tourist cell on Wednesday night. The beaches and tourist spots in the rest of the district will remain closed until further order.
The hotel-motels and tourist spots were closed on March 18 as per the decision of a committee formed following the coronavirus pandemic.
Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner M Kamal Hossain said it has been decided to open hotels, motels, restaurants, entertainment centers and other institutions involved in the tourism industry on a trial basis from August 17.
Kamal further said strict hygiene and physical distance must be followed.
The administration, in consultation with members of the tourist cell, prepared guidelines and health directives to ensure the safety of tourists, he said.
Local administration will monitor whether the guidelines are followed or not, the DC said, adding that action will be taken if anyone violates the instructions.
“Most people involved in tourism business are now depending on loans in various forms to meet their daily expenditures on family needs. They will get a chance to survive if businesses are reopened,” Cox’s Bazar Tour Operators Association President Rezaul Karim said.
Hit hard by Covid-19 fallout, businesses in the tourism sector in the beach town of Cox’s Bazar look for a gradual comeback after Eid-ul-Azha eyeing the next winter as an opportunity to stay afloat by hosting tourists from home and abroad in the hub of the country’s tourism industry.
Around 470 hotels and motels, over 2,000 food outlets, Burmese Market, tourism-based business houses and thousands of workers in the sector have remained almost idle since March 18 following the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
After Eid-ul-Azha, thousands of tourists are flocking to the beach every day ignoring hygiene and physical distance.
Cox’s Bazar, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country, was placed under complete lockdown on April 8. Earlier on March 18, the district stopped allowing tourists there, who mostly come to enjoy the world’s longest natural sea beach.
Since then, the bustling tourist hub has been left deserted. The two-month countrywide shutdown put the tourism sector people in a fix.
The district’s tourism sector alone sustained losses of several crores of taka during the pandemic induced shutdown, and 50,000 tourism staffers lost their job.
