Joynal Abedin Khan :
Foreign countries have not eased the travel alerts for their citizens staying in Bangladesh, or who are willing to visit the country after the murders of two foreign nationals recently.
A good number of foreign tourists have cancelled their bookings through the tourists season begins in Bangladesh, tour operators sources said.
Chief Executive of Bengal Tours Masud Hossain said on Wednesday that foreign tourists have already started cancelling their bookings after the murders.
He said that about 200 tourists have already cancelled their travel plans in the last week.
AKM Mahfuzul Alam, Novoair’s Sales and Marketing Manager, said on Thursday, “in the last three or four days, we refunded 42 percent fares of tickets for Chittagong, 17 percent for Cox’s Bazar, 31 percent for Jessore and 20 percent for Sylhet.”
In this situation, the Spanish Embassy to Dhaka on Wednesday sent a letter to the home minister seeking special security measures for Spanish citizens working in three power plants in the country.
The Japanese embassy also postponed a seminar on studying in Japan which is scheduled to be held on 19 October at the Bangladesh Agriculture University.
A release of the embassy said the seminar was postponed for unavoidable circumstances and the date of the seminar would be announced later.
“The government has declared 2016 as the Tourism Year expecting about one million tourists next year. But the killings of the foreigners now poses a major threat to tourism,” said Toufique Rahman, owner of Journey Plus.
Tourism Secretary Khurshed Alam Chowdhury, however, sought to reassure tourists.
“The tourists have nothing to fear. The best possible security arrangements have been made for them,” he said.
Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella in Dhaka and Japanese national Kunio Hoshi in Rangpur were murdered on September 28 and October 28 respectively.
Foreign countries have not eased the travel alerts for their citizens staying in Bangladesh, or who are willing to visit the country after the murders of two foreign nationals recently.
A good number of foreign tourists have cancelled their bookings through the tourists season begins in Bangladesh, tour operators sources said.
Chief Executive of Bengal Tours Masud Hossain said on Wednesday that foreign tourists have already started cancelling their bookings after the murders.
He said that about 200 tourists have already cancelled their travel plans in the last week.
AKM Mahfuzul Alam, Novoair’s Sales and Marketing Manager, said on Thursday, “in the last three or four days, we refunded 42 percent fares of tickets for Chittagong, 17 percent for Cox’s Bazar, 31 percent for Jessore and 20 percent for Sylhet.”
In this situation, the Spanish Embassy to Dhaka on Wednesday sent a letter to the home minister seeking special security measures for Spanish citizens working in three power plants in the country.
The Japanese embassy also postponed a seminar on studying in Japan which is scheduled to be held on 19 October at the Bangladesh Agriculture University.
A release of the embassy said the seminar was postponed for unavoidable circumstances and the date of the seminar would be announced later.
“The government has declared 2016 as the Tourism Year expecting about one million tourists next year. But the killings of the foreigners now poses a major threat to tourism,” said Toufique Rahman, owner of Journey Plus.
Tourism Secretary Khurshed Alam Chowdhury, however, sought to reassure tourists.
“The tourists have nothing to fear. The best possible security arrangements have been made for them,” he said.
Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella in Dhaka and Japanese national Kunio Hoshi in Rangpur were murdered on September 28 and October 28 respectively.
