UNB, Dhaka :
Tour operators fear a fall in tourists flow to the Sundarbans, a Unesco heritage site and home to many rare species, following an oil tanker capsize in the Shela River causing serious oil spill over a huge area, threatening its flora and fauna mainly the aquatic animals.
“Certainly, there might be a fall in terms of tourists towards the Sundarbans. But there’s nothing to get panicked,” President of Bangladesh Inbound Tour Operators Association (BITOB) Rezaul Ekram told UNB on Friday.
He hoped that the situation will be improved by the next couple of days and expected that there would be no mass cancellation of tour plans.
However, senior vice President of the Association Sumon Talukder thinks a significant number of tourists might feel discouraged to go there considering environmental aspects.
“The fall might be higher than 10 percent,” he told the news agency terming the environmental issue as a sensitive area for the tourists.
Sumon said, foreign tourists take the environmental issue seriously. “They’re very conscious, specially the tourists from the Europe and America.”
Referring to the widespread media focus on the issue specially the coverage in the international media might leave a discouraging note for the tourists from both home and abroad for the time being.
“There’ll be certain impact. Around 10 percent tourists might cancel their tour plan,” said MA Halim Khan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Green Bangla Tours.
Another tour operator – Dhaka Holidays – however sees opposite reaction from the tourists.
“I’m in this profession for long. Though it will take three-four days to understand the situation, it seems to me that tourist flow will increase,” said Managing Partner of the Dhaka Holidays – M Abdul Aziz.
Citing an example, he said there was a perception that tourist flow would come down sharply after cyclone Sidr. “But we did the best business in the following year of Sidr.”
The OT Southern Star 7′, carrying some 3.57 lakh litres of furnace oil, sank in the river at Mrigmari under East Zone of the Sundarbans after being hit by a cargo vessel, ‘Total Cargo, at 5am on Tuesday, causing a serious threat to the existence of the Sundarbans and its natural resources due to oil spill.
Expressing concern over the capsize of the oil tanker, UNDP Bangladesh Country Director Pauline Tamesis said this accident once again highlights the need for a complete ban on the movement of all commercial vessels through the Sundarbans.
“Global experience shows that this kind of incident has long term environmental consequences and it requires coordinated multisectoral efforts to restore the affected areas,” she said in a statement on Thursday.
