Tourist flow peaks at Cox's Bazar

The beach town of Cox's Bazar, the country's one of the hottest tourist spots, is now overcrowded with visitors, forcing posh hotels to turn away many guests.

The tourist town has been witnessing an increased flow of tourists from different parts of the country since December 16 but the flow reached its peak on December 23.

“All the top ranking hotels are now fully booked. This trend will continue till December 31 but there might be fluctuations (tourists flow) from December 26-28,” Mohammed Abdul Kauiam Chowdhury, general secretary of Cox's Bazar Hotel, Motel Owners Association, told the news agency.

Chowdhury said weekly holidays, Christmas Day (December 23, 24, 25 and December 30, 31) contributed to the huge jump in the tourist inflow.

The newly built posh hotels are also doing brisk business.

“We're fully booked except a few suites… I think this trend will continue until early January,” Mahbub Hossain, sales executive of a hotel, which has 228 guestrooms, including 16 Panorama Ocean Suites.

Talking to this correspondent, Mohammed Munir Hossain, operation and finance manager of another hotel, which opened on December 20, said, “Since December 23, tourists' inflow has reached its peak.”

Though Cox's Bazar is now overflowed with tourists from different parts of the country, very few foreigners were spotted on the world's largest beach.

Talking to the news agency, senior French journalist Bruno Philip said it was a small place with few people and few hotels when he had visited Cox's Bazar in 1992.

“Now the changes are absolutely amazing. It's tremendous. I think it shows how Bangladesh has changed a lot over the past 25 years,” Bruno said, as he strolled down the sandy beach.

“I could hardly find any room… everything is booked. I think Cox's Bazar symbolises the booming tourism (in Bangladesh),” said the 57-year-old who arrived in Cox's Bazar on December 21.

Responding to a question, Bruno said he visited Teknaf and other parts of the beach which was much more beautiful with trees and quiet environment.

“I have to say it's not my favorite place. I prefers that place (Teknaf) compared to Cox's Bazar, which I find noisy and too modern for me,” he said.

Bruno, however, said Cox's Bazar was still a nice place for the people of Dhaka and other parts of the country to relax.

There are some tourists who are extremely unhappy with the attitude of many hotel authorities, except for the five-star hotels.

“Many of the general hotels deceive tourists. Their restaurants charge unnecessarily high prices. Even you'll be cheated by Tomtom (battery-run three-wheelers) drivers,” said Ferdous Hasan, who was visiting with his school friends from Dhaka.

However, the tourists expressed satisfaction over the security arrangements in hotels.  “Our hotel is fully covered by CCTVs,” said one Munir Hossain.

Munir, however, said there were many things to do from the administration's side to fully tap the tourism potential of Cox's Bazar. “There should be a bypass road to divert busses from the main roads close to the beach to avoid noise. There should also be footpaths and overpasses.”

Cox's Bazar now has a combined capacity to accommodate over 80,000 tourists at around 400 hotels, motels and guesthouses, according to industry insiders. Foreigners make up five percent of the total annual visitors of Cox's Bazar, they said. Around 25 hotels claim to be of five-star and three-star standards.