Saint Martin's Island tourism: Season opens with 1,174 traveling on first day

The tourist season to Saint Martin's Island formally began today with three passenger vessels carrying 1,174 tourists from Cox's Bazar to the country's only coral island.

Officials said the vessels left the Nuniachhara BIWTA jetty in phases between 7:00 am and 8:00 am, and are expected to reach the island between 12:30 pm and 1:00 pm.

On the opening day, however, the vessel named Keari Sindabad was fined Tk 50,000 on charge of selling tickets without the mandatory online registration.

Authorities confirmed that from Monday tourists will be allowed to stay overnight on the island till 31 January, though the daily cap of 2,000 visitors will remain in force.

Hossain Islam Bahadur, general secretary of the Sea Cruise Operator Owners Association of Bangladesh, told reporters that 1,174 tourists travelled this morning on three vessels operating the Saint Martin route.

Tourists began boarding the ships from 6:00 am. Representatives from the district administration, Department of Environment, Tourist Police, BIWTA and other concerned government offices were present at the jetty to ensure full compliance with the government's 12-point directive for operating tourism on the island.

To discourage the use of single-use plastic on Saint Martin Island, the Department of Environment (DoE) distributed aluminium water bottles free of cost to every tourist before boarding.

Cox's Bazar Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Neelufa Yasmin Chowdhury, who is also the convener of the monitoring committee formed by the district administration, said strict surveillance is being enforced to ensure that no more than the government-fixed daily limit of 2,000 tourists can travel to the island.

Deputy director of the DoE Cox's Bazar office Khandaker Mahmud Pasha said aluminium water bottles were handed out to all tourists at the Nuniachhara BIWTA jetty to discourage the use of single-use plastic.

Vessels will leave Cox's Bazar at 7:00 am and return from the island at 3:00 pm the following day. The service will continue until 31 January.

In 1999, Saint Martin Island was declared an Ecologically Critical Area (ECA). On 4 January, 2023, the Ministry of Environment declared 1,743 square kilometres of the Bay of Bengal adjacent to the island a marine protected area.