Tourists have again started visiting Cox's Bazar after a pause induced by political turmoil since October 26.
Hotel occupancy rate, which had dropped to almost zero over the last couple of months forcing many to shut business indefinitely, rose to 10-15 percent now after BNP on January 15 announced a recess in shutdowns and blockades.
Ferry services between Teknaf and St Martin's island, which had been on hold for the past four months due to political turmoil, resumed on January 16.
“Tourists have started coming again,” said Mohammed Imran Humayun Khan, manager of sales and marketing of Long Beach Hotel, adding that people have been making queries as well for the past few days.
Sayeed Alamgir, public relations officer of Ocean Paradise, said a number of tourists placed bookings in the last four days.
But Mosharef Hossain, general manager of Hotel Media International, said it was too early to say that normalcy has returned to the beach town.
“It is a good sign that the hotel occupancy rate is increasing and many people are booking rooms for the next month.”
Domestic tour operators are also getting busy arranging and rearranging corporate and individual group programmes in Cox's Bazar.
Corporate houses and individuals who had postponed their programmes are rescheduling their plans now, said Borhan Uddin, chief executive officer of Green Holiday Tours, a Cox's Bazar-based tour operator.
Hotel booking rate has already rose to 60-70 percent for the month of February and the occupancy rate in March may be 90 percent, he said.
Around two lakh tourists come to Cox's Bazar a day during the peak season of November through February, with spikes recorded in the weekends. But this time, up to December last year, the number hardly crossed 10,000 a day.

“I failed to pay staff salaries and utility bills in the last four months. But now I am feeling relieved seeing the tourists' presence in the town,” said Gias Uddin, proprietor of Hotel Rodela, a restaurant.
His daily average sales have now gone up to Tk 40,000 that drastically fell to Tk 3,000 last month. “A year ago the amount was Tk 1 lakh,” he said.
If political stability remains in the coming months, the hoteliers would be able to recover the losses incurred over the past couple of months, Hossain said.
Restaurants and souvenir shops too are seeing a rise in foot count since the last weekend.
“Sales are good as tourists are coming,” said Uchesing Rakhain, a shop owner at the traditional Burmese market.