With extensive vaccination campaigns in full swing in South and Southeast Asia, hotel room and conference room bookings are increasing every month, according to sources
The hospitality business has finally picked up as foreign delegates and corporate clients visit the country after a year and a half of the Covid-19 pandemic.
With extensive vaccination campaigns in full swing in South and Southeast Asia, hotel room and conference room bookings are increasing every month, according to sources.
A senior official at the InterContinental Hotel told the Dhaka Tribune it was held in Dhaka last week thanks to a meeting of senior officials from the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), an intergovernmental organization of 23 countries in the Indian Ocean region.
There, ministers from the UK, Comoros, Indonesia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Kenya and other countries stayed at the hotel for the meeting, which he believes was the first international conference in Bangladesh since the Covid-19 outbreak in March last year.
Another senior official at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel told the Dhaka Tribune that their business has also picked up lately as Bangladeshi and Pakistani national cricket teams stay at the hotel for their ongoing three T20 series games.
Also read – The hotel industry calls for bailouts as losses pile up
Masroor Ahmed Mawla, a South African trade official in Dhaka, said booking fees at high-end hotels were high in November and December as international events were held across the country.
In the meantime, the government of Bangladesh will hold the “World Peace Conference” on December 4th and 5th as part of the ongoing celebrations for the 100th birthday of the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Foreign Minister Dr. Ak Abdul Momen said the government invited renowned peace activists, writers, poets, singers and global civil society figures to attend the peace conference to promote the culture of peace and tolerance.
“We have decided to hold the conference in Victory Month and we hope that it will take place in person,” said Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen.
A senior BGMEA executive said buyers and their agents were visiting Bangladesh to place orders in large numbers.
Ready-made clothing saw the highest growth last October and that trend is expected to continue through January and February next year, he added.
Companies make up 95% of the clientele of the luxury hotels in Bangladesh, said a general manager of a five-star hotel in Dhaka.
Bangladesh has seen the opening of upscale hotels including Hotel Renaissance in Gulshan, Radisson Blu Chattogram Bay View, Peninsula Chittagong, Amari Dhaka, Long Beach Suites Dhaka, Le Meridien Dhaka, Six Seasons Hotel in Dhaka, Sheraton in Dhaka, Rose View Hotel, Hotel Valley Garden and Nazimgarh Garden Resort in Sylhet, Long Beach Hotel in Cox Bazar, Grand Sultan Tea Resort and Golf in Sreemangal in Sylhet and more.
Cox’s Bazaar is also recovering
Meanwhile, hotels and motels in Cox’s Bazar are doing good business this season, while local Bangladeshi tourists are also returning to the coastal district in large numbers, an official at Cox’s Bazar said.
Representatives from Royal Tulip Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa Cox’s Bazar, Long Beach Hotel, Sayeman Beach Resort, Praasad Paradise Hotel & Resort and Hotel Sea Crown said their business appears to be back on track after nearly 20 months.
Hundreds of jobs in the industry were lost between March 2020 and September 2021, while thousands of employees’ salaries were cut or pending over the same period, sources said.
Although reliable statistics are not available in Bangladesh, Covid-19 caused the sector a loss of around Tk 7,000 billion last year.
Also read – Can hotels survive the pandemic?
Meanwhile, the President of the Bangladesh International Hotel Association (BIHA) Hakim Ali said the government should save the hospitality industry, which has suffered heavy losses during the current pandemic.
The BIHA also sent a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asking for her personal intervention to save the industry, the investments of around Tk 60,000.
Hakim Ali, also managing director of the Hotel Agrabad at Chattogram, also complained about the delays in the disbursement of package loans to the stakeholders.
As with the export-oriented ready-to-wear apparel industry, a BIHA leader said the government should provide incentives for the sector to be paid out to workers and employees in that sector.
SM Zillur Rahman, head of the World Association for SMEs in Bangladesh and also chairman of the Rahman Group, said the government should think about bailing out the hospitality industry, which has been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
