Tourism takes a blow from killings of foreigners

Foreign tourists have started cancelling their trips to Bangladesh in the wake of the killings of a Japanese and an Italian national in less than a week, tour operators said yesterday.

Many visiting tourists have also cut their trips short following the twin murders, which have dented hopes for a rebound in tourism after a two-year downturn for political unrest.

Tourists, who are still holding on to their bookings, are inquiring about the activities of Islamic State (IS), which has claimed responsibility for the murders of the foreigners on September 28 and October 3, operators said. "It's an awful situation. We have suffered in the last two years," said Masud Hossain, chief executive of Bengal Tours Ltd.

Bengal, a leading inbound tour operator, witnessed the cancellation of a trip of 200 tourists, including 40 foreigners, on Sunday.

Some members of a delegation from Japan left Bangladesh on October 4 and the rest of the members are waiting to leave by cutting their trip short by a week, he said.

"There are queries regarding IS and they also informed us of warnings from their foreign ministries about visiting Bangladesh," said Wahid Ullah, managing director of Silver Wave Tours.

"They are inquiring about the situation here and seeking opinions on whether their visits will be safe."

Tour operators had expected that political stability would attract more tourists, and the sector that employs 10 lakh people would be able to recoup the losses of the last two years.

However, the blow comes right at the start of the peak tourism season from October to March.

"We hoped for good business this year, to recover a part of previous losses. Unfortunately, the situation is against us again," he said.

Silver Wave faced tour cancellations by three Japanese groups, who were scheduled to visit Bangladesh by the end of October and early November, since the killing of Kunio Hoshi, a Japanese national.

Another seven groups are scheduled to come in November and December; but it is unclear whether they will come or not.

Hasan Mansur, former president of Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB), said the miseries of the tourism service providers started in December 2013 when bookings were cancelled due to political unrest.

"We were forced to sit idle and bear all the overhead costs."

"I can definitely say that these two incidents have already taken our industry a thousand miles backwards," he said.

"It will be a difficult and time-consuming process to get back our previous position as a holiday destination," said Mansur, who has been involved in the tourism industry for almost 40 years.

A lot of effort combined with promotional activities will be needed to recover, he said.

Operators said the inflow of foreign tourists had been rising in the last couple of years because of tour operators' efforts and increased familiarity among the foreigners about Bangladesh for the apparel industry, microcredit and cricket.

The country receives tourists mainly from Japan and the UK, said Toufiq Rahman, chief executive of Journey Plus. Around 25,000-30,000 tourists come here for leisure, he said.

"The rate of arrivals had been rising but the recent incidents will have a negative impact."

Faridul Haque, managing director of Tour Planners Ltd, said the problems are already kicking in. "The Japanese tourists are not feeling secured."

"But we will be able to recover, given that no such incident takes place again. They will count these as isolated events."

Travel and tourism accounted for 1.9 percent of the country's GDP in 2014, down from 2.1 percent in the previous year, according to World Travel and Tourism Council reports.

The sector directly generated 9.03 lakh jobs in 2014, down from 13.28 lakh in the previous year, according to the council.