First green resort opens in Cox's Bazar next month
Cox's Bazar that boasts the world's longest unbroken sea beach is set to see Bangladesh's first five-star green resort next month.
Also a timeshare hotel, Royal Tulip Sea Pearl Beach Resort has been built on 15 acres of land at Inani, some 20 kilometres south of Cox's Bazar town, at an investment of Tk 504 crore.
"It is a unique hotel with the sea beach on one side and mountains on the other. We have invested more to make it an eco-friendly resort, to be loved by tourists," said AHM Mokbul Hossain, chief executive officer of the resort.
From sewage to garbage, solid waste and water will be treated at different plants in and around the resort. The hotel will use solar light and preserve rainwater.
The 10-storey resort, which has 493 rooms and suites with more than 445,880 square feet of space, will be one of the biggest in South Asia.
In addition to all the common facilities of a five-star hotel, it has an infinity swimming pool of 10,000 sq ft area that will merge with the seawater. It has another 5,000 sq ft pool dedicated for women and children.
The resort will be operated by Europe's Louvre Hotels Group, which is allied with the Golden Tulip Hospitality Group operating in the upper-end and luxury segments of the market. According to owners and financiers of the hotel, Cox's Bazar has immense potential to attract foreign and local high-end and corporate tourists as it is located in a vintage area of the world's largest unbroken sea beach.
"We are certain that the uniqueness of the resort will attract foreign and local high-end tourists. Moreover, the international timesharing concept will automatically bring foreign tourists into our hotel," said Aminul Haque, managing director of the hotel.
Timeshare is an ownership model where many customers own allotments of usage in the same property. The model also allows members of a hotel to swap or exchange time with another affiliated hotel or resort anywhere in the world depending on availability.
Timeshare members of the resort will be able to use the facilities of nearly 3,000 hotels and resorts that are affiliated with Interval International in more than 80 countries. A member will be given seven days to spend in any affiliated resort every year.
To finance the Tk 504 crore project, 10 banks have lent Tk 197 crore; Prime Bank was the lead arranger of the syndication deal and has provided Tk 95.7 crore.
Ahmed Kamal Khan Chowdhury, managing director of Prime Bank, said the government has recognised tourism as a thrust sector and announced a national policy to develop it with private sector participation.
"Keeping that in mind, we have taken an initiative in 2011 to finance the project," Chowdhury said. The government should improve infrastructure in Cox's Bazar to further develop the tourism sector, he added.
Quoting a research report, Touhidul Alam Khan, deputy managing director of Prime Bank, said the resort is expected to be 70 percent occupied in the peak season and 35 percent in off-peak periods next year.
Khan said the project's uniqueness and viability has prompted the syndicated lenders to allow the owners extra moratorium and repayment time.
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