Gazi Anowarul Hoque :
Hotels and restaurants of city’s posh areas, especially Gulshan and Banani, see trade debacle since July 1 terror attack.
Locals and foreigners, who used to visit the hotels and restaurants in Gulshan and Banani area, to reside or to have food, refraining themselves to going there in fear of terror attack or law enforcers’ harassment.
Besides, the locals and the foreigners, who usually book the hotels during their visit to capital Dhaka, have also cancelled their scheduled programme.
Meanwhile, the government’s move to evict illegal establishments from the city’s residential areas, also added another blow to their business fate, businessmen talking to The New Nation on Tuesday said.
“We will have to incur loss about Tk 200 crore this year if the prevailing situation is not changed. Besides, the government will have to stop eviction drive,” MH Rahman, adviser of Hotel, Guesthouse and Restaurant Owners’ Association of Bangladesh said.
He added the government will also have to incur loss huge amount of VAT & Tax from tourism sector.
While this reporter visiting hotels, motels and restaurants in Gulshan and Banani areas, found that almost all business houses are passing hard days due to absence of customers.
Talking to The New Nation, residents of Gulshan and Banani said people from abroad or other parts of the country are not coming to the restaurants and shopping malls.
“No one is coming unless it’s urgent,” a dweller said. Gulshan South Avenue known as restaurant of village used to be crowded with locals and foreigners, but on Tuesday, it seemed like a haunted house.
“We have assured security measures but still it’s not like before. We have stopped buffet lunch and are not even taking reservations for parties,” said a hotel manger requesting not to be named.
Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Managing Director of Dhaka Bank said, the investment at hotel and restaurants in Ghulsan and Banani areas are about Tk 4,000 to 5,000 crore.
Meanwhile, the government has declared 2016 as Tourism Year. Considering the overall scenario, the government should implement its eviction decision step by step, he said.
Eviction drive against commercial establishments in city’s posh areas should not be done at this moment as it would hamper bank investment, employment, government revenue as well as tourism, he added.
Taufiq Rahman, Director of Tour Operators’ Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) told the New Nation on Tuesday that there are about 500 hotel and motels at Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara areas where almost 3000 foreigners stay at those in night.
The foreigners would face a crisis of places to stay if the hotels and motels are evicted, which in turn will hit the national economy, he added.
Entrepreneurs of the areas run their business with the city corporation’s approval and pay taxes regularly.
Syed Nasim Manzur, President of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry said many businesses are related to hotels and restaurants.
“Security measures and available living space will have to be ensured for foreigners. Otherwise it will hit on all,” he said.
An official of the Dhaka Regency Hotel said that the US embassy has cancelled a scheduled seminar.
He said that more than 1,000 rooms had been reserved in different hotels for participants of the conference on money laundering and telecommunications.
Preferring anonymity, he said that eight out of the 10 scheduled events at the Dhaka Regency Hotel have been postponed and two have been cancelled.
The contribution of hotel and restaurant sector to GDP in FY 2014-15 was 1.03 percent, according to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
