Tourists flock to Kuakata after Padma Bridge opening

Tourism sector in the southern part of Bangladesh is already benefitting from the Padma Bridge, with people flocking to the Kuakata sea beach in Patuakhali district in great numbers during the ongoing Eid vacation.

The number of tourists was the highest on Tuesday. The businesses related with the tourism sector in the area are also booming.

Local businessmen have said that all street food vendors, hotels, motels, restaurants in the area are doing brisk business. The footfall of tourists in this Eid vacation far surpassed the previous record and tourists are still coming to spend their vacation in Kuakata.

General secretary of the Kuakata Hotel-Motel Owners Association, Motaleb Sharif said, “There are 74 hotel-motels in Kuakata which are registered under the association. There are 56 more hotel-motels, which are not part of the association. In total, there are 130 hotel-motels and from the day after Eid, on average 25-30 thousand tourists are staying here every day. There were also a few tourists from overseas.”

Motaleb Sharif said, tourists have pre-booked rooms at hotel and motels in Kuakata till 15 July. He is hopeful that business will remain good the next few days too. He is also hopeful that business will keep booming throughout the year thanks to the opening of the Padma Bridge.

A source from the association said, there are 10-15 first-class hotels in Kuakata. All of those are completely booked till Friday. Moreover, 70-80 per cent of rooms of second-class hotels and 50-60 per cent of rooms of third-class hotels are also booked.

The locals said, people from far away can now easily visit Kuakata thanks to the Padma Bridge. That’s why there are more tourists. The holidaymakers have been visiting the Kuakata zero point, Lembur Chor, national park, Rakhain market and other tourist spots in the area for the past three days.

Md Mizanur Rahman, a local businessman, said there are around 45 stalls at the beachside selling fried fish. Each stall on an average sold Tk 30-40 thousand worth of fried fish every day during this Eid season. On Monday, the sale peaked to Tk 60-70 thousand per stall. In the last three days, these stalls have made sales upwards of Tk five million.

Renting motorcycles to tourists to roam around the city and visit various attractions is another tourism related business in the area. For Tk 300-350, tourists can rent a motorcycle. The president of the motorcycle drivers association Abbas Kazi said, as there are more tourists right now, each motorcycle rider is earning Tk 1200-1500 per day. There are a total of 350 motorcycle riders, which means each day in this Eid season the motorcycle riders have collectively earned Tk 400,000-500,000.

President of the Tour Operator Association of Kuakata (TOAK) Rumman Imtiaz said, “Padma Bridge has opened the door for new possibilities in the tourism sector. We are seeing proof of it in the current Eid vacation.”

But some tourists have complained of poor management in Kuakata. Asad Chowdhury, a tourist from Dhaka, said, the Kuakata beach has shrunk in length. There is also a lot of litter in the beach and adjacent areas. If these problems are sorted, the number of tourists will further increase.

Kuakata Tourist Police inspector Hasnain Parvez said, a few teams of the tourist police are working in the area to ensure the safety of the vacationers. The tourist police are also working to make sure no unwanted accidents happen in the beach.

*This report appeared in the print and online version of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ashfaq-Ul-Alam Niloy