Since the outbreak of the coronavirus like elsewhere in the world, Bangladesh has also been badly hit by the negative impact on tourism for very obvious reasons and the estimated financial loss in hotel business alone since the pandemic is around Tk 1500 cr. According to the hotel owners, there are around 45 hotels which have been categorized as having various levels of star classification depending on their quality in the capital. Most of them are empty. Due to the outbreak, everyday booking is being canceling.
A hotel manager said that usually the first three months of a year, the hospitality industry enjoys busy schedules offering hospitalities to guests. But due to the novel coronavirus outbreak the hotel business has faced a massive loss, particularly from February. Another hotel manager shared that, “For the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, our entire hotel was booked and we had prepared accordingly to receive our guests, but due to the deadly virus attack, we have to count huge losses due to cancellation of bookings.”
Bangladesh International Hotel Association (BIHA) Secretary General Mohsin Haq Himel told the media, “Due to the coronvirus outbreak, the hotel industry like other industries in the world, is passing critical. In the last two months of a year, we have continuous booking but this year we are probably counting the worse ever estimated loss of Tk 1500 crore so far.”
In such a situation, how can we recover, asked a sad fac of Himel saying, “In the meantime, we have submitted a 3-point proposal to the government. These include giving financial incentives to pay employees’ salaries, cancellation of paying tax on salaries and remission utility bill till December 2020.
According to foreign agencies, the outbreak is eating away at the revenue of tourist destinations around the world. The international tourism industry was valued at $1.7 trillion in 2019 by the United Nations, but the coronavirus is expected to cost the US travel industry alone more than $10 billion over the next four years.
