Bangladesh’s resort industry, which has seen spectacular growth in the last decade, enjoys a bumper business this season after two devastating years of pandemic pause. The sector has seen a massive surge in guest arrivals in the present winter since last November. Popular luxury resorts in attractive tourist destinations enjoyed almost full occupancy between November and the first week of January. However, there has grown a flipside to the thriving entertainment industry. The lack of a proper regulatory framework has led to the mushrooming of low-standard outlets across tourist places. The authority has no control over the resorts. The government has recently introduced a set of rules for the resorts which says that resorts need to have 46 facilities. But in reality, most of the resorts do not comply with the rules. In the last decade, the resort sector has seen tremendous growth banking on a surge in the income of the well-off.
Before 2010, the number of resorts in the Gazipur area was 10, but there are over 100 now. The bad news is that the omicron variant of the virus begins to affect the resort sector with many clients starting to cancel their bookings. In this peak season, many corporate bookings have already been cancelled. As if people fear going out of home due to the fresh spread of the pandemic. The hotel and resort industry requires policy support from the government and financial support from the banking sector to survive and flourish in the competitive time. Besides modernisation, client satisfaction and quality service at an affordable price are vital for boosting up the industry.
For the sustainable growth of the sector, branding Bangladesh as a safe, business-friendly, tourist-friendly and beautiful country is very much essential. Overall development of vital systems like traffic movement, environment, law and order, and good governance will surely make Bangladesh a popular tourist destination in the region to help flourish the economy.
