Tourism trade hit by dip in overseas travel

Foreign trips dropped as India, one of the popular tourist destinations for Bangladeshis, has restricted visas, and several other countries are maintaining stricter visa policies too after the political change in Bangladesh, resulting in a fall in aviation and tour businesses.

According to the tour operators, India stopped issuing visas to Bangladesh except for emergency medical visas after the change in the government, while the United Arab Emirates is not also issuing tourist visas. Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines issue visas in a delayed process. Besides, businesspeople and travellers also cut foreign trips because of the changed situation. As a result, foreign trips by local tourists dropped by 75-80 per cent, as well as tourism-related businesses were also curtailed.

Regarding this, Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) president Mohammad Rafuzzaman said foreign trips by Bangladeshis dropped because of visa complications Local tourism usually flourishes when foreign trips become limited, but it is happening less due to restrictions on several local tourist destinations.

According to TOAB, India is the most popular destination among tourists from Bangladesh because of airways and roadways along with easy accessibility to medical and tourist visas. Forty to 45 per cent of tourists travelling abroad from Bangladesh visit India; 15-20 per cent go to Thailand, 10-15 per cent to Malaysia, 10-15 per cent to Middle East countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman, 5-8 per cent to Europe and 5-8 per cent of Bangladeshi tourists visit Nepal, Sri Lanka and China.

Several tour operators said currently it is easier to get a Malaysian visa but 80 per cent of visa applications for Vietnam and 70 per cent for Singapore are being rejected. Many are reluctant to visit Nepal because of high airfare, but a major portion of people are going to Nepal to complete the visa process for various European countries. Thailand started accepting visa applications after a brief halt for a week. At present, several tourists are going to Sri Lanka and Maldives without any visa complications.

Syed Shafat Uddin Ahmed Tomal, managing director of tour operating company Market n-Trance Holidays, told Prothom Alo tour operators relatively have less scope for business inside the country but they are surviving by selling air and cruise tickets and tour packages for various countries, and processing visa application. Business, however, dropped by 20-30 per cent after 5 August.

India received the highest number of foreign tourists in 2023. A record 2.58 million tourists from Bangladesh visited India in 2019, but it dropped because of the coronavirus pandemic and started rising in 2022.

According to data from India’s tourism ministry, 1.28 million tourists from Bangladesh visited India in 2022 and 22 per cent of them used airways while the remaining portion travelled by road. Of those tourists, 64.8 per cent went to India for travel purposes, 25.5 per cent for treatment and 4.5 per cent visited for business and job purposes. A total of 2.20 million Bangladeshis visited India in 2024. About 4.78 million tourists from different countries travelled to India in January-June of 2024 with Bangladeshis constituting the highest 21.55 per cent.

Besides, more than 100,000 tourists from Bangladesh visit Thailand every year. As India and UAE restricted visas, many now opted to visit Thailand, but currently, it takes 20-25 days to receive a visa instead of the previous deadline of three working days.

According to the Tourism Authorities of Thailand, 102,000 Bangladeshi visited Thailand in January-September this year while 101,000 people visited in the corresponding period of the previous years. A total of 140,000 Bangladesh travelled to the country in 2023 and 81,106 in 2022.

Flight numbers dropped after India restricted visas for Bangladeshi. Besides, less number of passengers are also going to other destinations including Thailand and Dubai.

US-Bangla Airlines general manager Kamrul Islam told Prothom Alo, “They operated 32 flights to India weekly but currently they run 12 flights. Flights to India have 60 per cent of occupancy while flights to Bangkok have 75-80 per cent. Had visas been issued regularly, more passengers would come. However, the forecast says passengers to Bangkok will rise in winter.”

According to the Bangladesh Outbound Tour Operators Forum, a platform of 123 outbound tour operators, 80 per cent of the business of the tour operators comes from tourists travelling abroad.

The Forum president Chowdhury Hasanuzzaman told Prothom Alo tourism sector faces new challenges after the coronavirus pandemic. Business is in a dire state. No one knows when the Indian visa process will become regular. Overall, an uncertain situation exists. The government must step forward to save the tourism sector, he added.