‎Hospitality industry will gradually grow after polls

ছবিঃ সিএনআই

‎Sttaff Correspondent: The hospitality and tourism sector of Bangladesh that has been going through a transition period since the political change on August 5, 2024 through mass movement is expected to gradually improve after the national election on February 12, 2026, hospitality industry stakeholders said.
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‎The Election Commission of Bangladesh will conduct the national parliament election on February 12, 2026 and the business environment will also gradually improve, said at top hotelier while talking to the correspondent.        
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‎The law and order situation has remained shaky since August 5, 2024 as the interim government is struggling to bring healthy environment, said a leader of the (Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).  
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‎Bangladesh  Chamber of industries (BCI) president Anwarul Alam Parvez also expressed concern over the ‘mob culture’ and shaky law and order situation.
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‎Top leaders of the country in a meeting with BNP chairperson Tarique Rahman have expressed deep concern over poor law and order situation in the country and sought his intervention into the issue if BNP comes to power.    
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‎The hotel business will grow after the election, but not any immediate growth, said a General Manager of a Five–Star hotel at Gulshan     
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‎“The hotel business in Bangladesh is likely to grow by 8-10 per cent this year. He said local elections are being held in India and will be completed by June this year. So the political environment in both and India is expected to improve after that period and that will help grow the hotel business in Bangladesh, said a hotel manager
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‎He also said that the geopolitical situation, specially the USA-EU relations and Bangladesh-India relations are also going to have impact on the hotel business.  The Chinese and Indian citizens are major clients in the hotel business. However, Chinese consultants who work on 1-3 months spend time at some boutique hotels.
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‎He also added “As some new hotels are opening in city, room rates are going down …However, some businesses are growing near the Hazrat Shahjalaal International Airport, corporate business will grow in the main city.”
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‎The hospitality and tourism sector of Bangladesh has been going through a transition period since the political change last year through mass movement, he said.
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‎The interim government is set to hold the next parliament in February 2026, and entrepreneurs and businessmen will put new investment in the sector once a political government is restored in the country, sources said.
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‎Sources said that the room service of the Le Meridian Hotel, Radisson Water Garden and Westin share 70 per cent of total earning, while restaurant and ballroom service share the rest 30 per cent of the business.
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‎The room service of the Intercontinental Hotel, Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel and Holiday Inn share 30 per cent earning, while restaurant and ballroom service share rest 70 per cent earning of the business, sources  said. The industry posted some 4/5 per cent growth in the past 20 years that slowed to zero per cent or very nominal in the last one year.
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‎The political violence, vandalism and deteriorating law and order situation stood in way of tourists during the July-September period of 2024. The situation started improving since the last November with the interim government intervened in brining out the law and order situation under the control 
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‎Sources, the Indian clients dominated a substantial portion of borders at the posh hotels that dropped since August5, 2024.
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‎Sources at the hotel industry said Chinese clients shared 40 per cent, Indian clients 30 per cent, and American, Canadian, Australians and European clients shares rest 30 per cent  of hotel guests.
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‎Since this year or December 2024, the Chinese clients remain the pre-August period while rest clients dropped compared to the level of political change, sources said.
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‎The number of guests at posh hotels like Westin Hotel, Radisson Water Garden Hotel,  and Le Meridien,  Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Intercontinental Hotel dropped slightly last year specially during July-September period as top Chief Executive Officers of the multinational companies, representatives of readymade garment buyers, leaders of donor agencies and NGO leaders either cancelled and rescheduled their visit to Bangladesh.
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‎Bangladesh can mull over replicating success stories of the hospitality and tourism industry of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Maldives, India, Vietnam and Sri Lanka to give a boost to the national economy, said a tourism expert.
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‎According to the Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB), 655,000 foreign tourists visited the country in 2024, compared to  2019's pre-pandemic figures of 621,131 visitors.
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‎The year was marked by frequent floods in Sylhet, political unrest and security issues in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
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‎Political instability, including internet blackouts during July’s student protests and the uncertainty following Sheikh Hasina's resignation on August 5, further disrupted the sector.
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‎Meanwhile, Bangladesh's economy is estimated to grow by 4.0% in fiscal year 2025 (FY25), rising to 5.0% in FY26, according to the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) September 2025, released today by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
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‎Although garment exports remain resilient, the slower growth estimate reflects subdued domestic demand amid ongoing political transitions, recurrent flooding, industrial labour disputes and persistently high inflation. The economy expanded by 4.2% in FY24.
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‎ADB Country Director for Bangladesh Hoe Yun Jeong Future growth will depend on improving the business environment to boost competitiveness and attract investment, and on ensuring reliable energy supplies.
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‎"The impact of US tariffs on Bangladesh's trade remains to be seen, and vulnerabilities in the banking sector persist. Addressing these challenges is essential to achieving higher economic performance."
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‎He said that some downside risks to the FY26 outlook persist. Trade uncertainty, banking sector weaknesses, and potential policy slippages could impede progress. Maintaining prudent macroeconomic policies and accelerating structural reforms are critical to strengthening resilience."
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‎Bangladesh can mull over replicating success stories of the hospitality and tourism industry of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Maldives, India, Vietnam and Sri Lanka to give a boost to the national economy, said a high official of the Hotel Intercontinental Dhaka.
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‎Bangladesh is rich with natural and historical sites that uphold our glorious past from century to century. "Tourist spots, including our heritage, will have to be highlighted in a smarter way to the foreigners," President Hamid said.
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‎Former Kuwait Ambassador in Bangladesh Adel Mohammed A H Hayat in an interview said that Bangladesh is a beautiful country with mind captivating landscape. It has the world's largest mangrove, the Sundarbans and the largest unbroken sea beach in Asia. Although local tourism has picked up greatly, foreign tourists are not too familiar with the country. Bangladesh needs to invest more in the tourism sector and develop the infrastructure facilities and entertainment facilities.
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‎The construction of International hotel chain Marriott, Hilton, Novotel, Sheraton, InterContinental Holiday Inn, Marriott Courtyard and one more Westin hotel's is going on.
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‎As demand grew in the last 20 years, a number of posh five-star hotels are being built in the country's two main cities and these hotels would be ready for the guests within five years.
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‎In the last 20 years the country has witnessed opening of pose hotels including Five-Star hotels like Radisson Blu Water Hotel at Chittagong, DuSai Resort & Spa in Maulvi Bazar, The Peninsula Chittagong, Amari Dhaka, Long Beach Suites Dhaka, Le Meridien Dhaka, Six Seasons Hotel in Dhaka, Four Points by Sheraton in Dhaka, Rose View Hotel, Hotel Valley Garden and Nazimgarh Garden Resort in Sylhet, Long Beach Hotels in Dhaka and at Cox Bazar, Grand Sultan Tea Resort & Golfin at Maulvi Bazar showing that Bangladesh is becoming a success story in the hospitably industry.
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‎During this time, The Westin, Radisson Blu Water Garden, Amari, Six Season, Four Points Sheraton, Le Meridien, Sarina and Regency have been opened.
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‎The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is the global authority on the economic and social contribution of Travel & Tourism said the direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP in Bangladesh in 2015 was BDT407.6bn (2.4% of GDP).
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‎ A high official of the Westin Hotel opined the country needs international standard hotel management institutions to produce and groom skilled manpower required in the sector. He said the existing institutions and traditional courses offered by universities and some institutions can't produce the trained manpower required in the industry.
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‎To attract more and more tourists and ensure them a hassle-free arrival here, the government has decided to provide port visa to foreign nationals, including those of Bangladesh origin. Immigration officers at the port of entry- airports and land ports - are supposed to approve this after examining all the relevant documents.
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‎ "To ease the visa system for tourists, our persuasion from the Ministry and Bangladesh Tourism Board is always there," Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) said. A government official said the visa regime of Bangladesh is quite tourist-friendly and Bangladesh missions abroad always accord visas to the tourists at the shortest possible time. He, however, said it may attract more tourists if the visa-on-arrival process is eased further. Talking to this correspondent, a diplomat said, "We've offered the privilege of on-arrival visa to a number of countries. We don't know its impact on our tourism sector and it's high time we found that out. It would help us take appropriate measures accordingly."
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‎The tourism industry is considered as a major source of foreign currency earnings for countries like India, Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives, Spain, Switzerland, Nepal, UAE, the Maldives, Indonesia, Singapore and many more. He said Bangladesh a number of attractive tourist places like ancient Buddhist monastery in northern region, the largest sea beach in Cox's Bazar and the largest mangrove forest Sundarbans in Khulna district in the southern part of the country.
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‎Bangladesh has to transform the structural features of our cities and tourist spots in keeping with the tourism centric structures of some Asian countries like Singapore, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur. The focus should also be given to domestic tourism industry as around nine million domestic tourists travel across the country in a year. Bangladesh has the longest sea beach, Cox's Bazaar, the largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, lush green hills and villages, historical monuments, beautiful rivers, lakes and haors and many more attractive things which are to be exploited.
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‎With a long term vision, we should give more importance to tourism sector and prepare an innovative plan for developing the Tourism infrastructure and tourist spots having modern amenities. Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation can improve and protect, preserve historical, religious, cultural and architectural sites across the country with relevant government agencies and relevant stake holders that will help attract local and international tourists. To attract tourists in great number, Bangladesh needs to improve its infrastructure, construct a good number of hotels in Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, ensure safe movement of tourists, improve road and rail networks.
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‎Bangladesh has become a member of lower middle income group country, according to World Bank report, that also shows that the hospitality industry holds tremendous potentials to grow in the coming years.
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‎He said Bangladesh missions abroad can hold discussion meetings with leading cultural personalities to highlight our Bengali culture including different festivals like Pahela Baishakh to woo tourists in the region. Branding of Pahela Bhaishakh abroad can also help attract tourists to visit Bangladesh and to enjoy Bengali festival with our Bangladeshi citizens in major cities. Pahela Baishakh has turned out to be national festival in the last 20 years-irrespective of religion, cast, race and creed.
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‎Tourism industry has great potential to boost the economic growth and GDP. At present, there is a big mismatch between skill demanded and skill supplied in the country.
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‎He said with emergence of new middle and upper middle class consumers along with rich consumers, the hotel business will enjoy a healthy growth in the days to come. He said local Bangladeshis are now increasingly spending money in restaurants and hotels that also lead growth o.