At least one million holidaymakers are going to tour the Cox'sBazar sea beach during the Eid vacation, reports Bangla daily Prothom Alo.
Already 60 per cent of the rooms in more than 500 hotels, motels, guesthouses, resorts and cottages have been booked in advance. The hotel authorities think that the remaining rooms will be rented before Eid.
They said, this time no special discount is being given against the room rent. However, under the pretext of extra pressure,
Separate monitoring teams of the hotel owners and mobile courts of the district administration will be vigilant to ensure that no extra rent is charged for the hotel rooms.
According to the hoteliers, the beach will be open for seven consecutive days from the day after Eid. At this time the business will be at least 500 crore in various sectors related to tourism including hotels and restaurants.
Abul Kashem Sikder, general secretary of the Federation of Tourism Owners Association of Bangladesh, a coalition of seven separate hotel and restaurant owners in Cox's Bazar said that at least 1.5 million tourists visited the beach in the last 16 days of December last year. Since then, there has not been a significant influx of tourists. More than 1.5 million tourists were expected to gather during the 7-day Eid holiday this year. But due to the closure of tourist travel in St. Martin, 1 million tourists can come.
Cox's Bazar Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Muhiuddin, who is in charge of the security of the tourists, said the law enforcement agencies are prepared to ensure the safety of the tourists.
He warned the tourists not to go on Marine Drive alone or in a three-wheeled vehicle inside the Zhoubagan on the beach, which is plunged into darkness after dusk.
In these areas, Mohammad Muhiuddin said, there is an opportunity to lose everything by falling prey to the snatchers.
