Luxury hotels relieved of pandemic pinch
The luxury hotel business in Bangladesh bounced back strongly in the first half of the current financial year as people have started to travel and host public events with the easing of coronavirus restrictions.
Among three listed hotel companies, two logged higher profits and one returned to profits in the last six months.
"Many countries are not taking tourists amid the Covid-19 pandemic, so they are rushing to domestic sites instead," said Md Azaharul Mamun, company secretary of Sea Pearl Beach Resort and Spa Ltd.
The Royal Tulip Sea Pearl Beach Resort and Spa, a luxury hotel located on the Inani beach of Cox's Bazar, saw a profit of around Tk 8.69 crore in the last six months, up 20 per cent year-on-year.
"As the Royal Tulip, a concern of Sea Pearl Beach Resort and Spa, is located where there are no other big hotels, we were able to attract more tourists," he added.
Other than Cox's Bazar, tourists are also flocking to destinations in Sylhet and Kuakata, among others.
Mamun said the number of corporate events taking place at their hotels was higher before the Omicron variant of Covid-19 led to a fresh wave of infections and subsequent restrictions on public gatherings.
"So, individual tourists were the main guests in recent times," he said.
Unique Hotel and Resorts Ltd, which operates The Westin Dhaka, registered profits of Tk 1.47 crore in the last six months. It had incurred losses of Tk 2.65 crore during the same period in 2020-21.
Similarly, profits of The Peninsula Chittagong rose to Tk 7.59 crore, up 52 per cent year-on-year.
"After the initial waves of the pandemic, the tourism business bounced back stronger than expected," said Jabed Ahmed, chief executive officer of the Bangladesh Tourism Board.
"As a result, we saw more than two crore tourists before the spread of the Omicron variant," he added.
The reason behind the large turnout of tourists is that even those who normally travel outside the country were unable to do so in recent times as borders across the globe were closed to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The Omicron variant had a similar effect in Bangladesh as the number of tourists receded in recent months.
"But, now the occupancy ratio is rising again," Ahmed said.
A top official of a Dhaka-based luxury hotel, preferring anonymity, told The Daily Start that its business was badly impacted by the pandemic.
"But after the situation started improving and corporate programmes resumed, the occupancy at our hotel recovered 60-65 per cent of the pre-pandemic level," he said.
However, many companies are now cancelling bookings as they are holding programmes online amid the fears of the Omicron variant.
"We are feeling the impact again. However, the situation is still better than in the initial stage of the pandemic," he added.
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