[ad_1]
The tourism industry and related businesses will be affected if the decision to restrict tourists and ban overnight stays on St. Martin, the country’s only coral island, is implemented. At the same time, local residents will lose their livelihood. Furthermore, the investment of billions of rupees by various entrepreneurs will be at risk. More than three lakhs of people employed in the tourism sector will lose their jobs. Therefore, the Cox’s Bazar Tour Operators Association (TUAC) has demanded the withdrawal of said anti-tourism decision. With these considerations in mind, the organization has sought the direct intervention of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
It is known that the government has decided to limit the number of tourists in San Martín to 1,250 per day by registering online. If this is implemented, there is a risk that the number of foreign tourists will decrease, Tuak said. Similarly, domestic tourists will be distracted from traveling to Cox’s Bazar. The tourism business on St. Martin’s Island and Cox’s Bazar, which was built with an investment of billions of rupees, will suffer.
Tuak held a press conference in a conference room at Cox’s Bazar on Friday (October 2) at 11 a.m. Mofizur Rahman Mufiz, the organization’s senior adviser, answered several questions from journalists. He noted that more than two hundred tour operators, more than five hundred guides and more than one million officials and employees earn their living providing tourism services around the island of St. Martin.
In the words of Tuak’s senior advisor, ‘Entrepreneurs have invested billions of rupees in just five months of the year with business risk in love with tourism. These include shipping, hotels, motels, cabins, restaurants, and small businesses. Everything will be closed if the decision to restrict tourists and ban overnight stays in St. Martin is implemented. As a result, investors will lose capital and more than three lakh people will lose their jobs.
It is feared that the situation will return to the way it was before the tourism industry developed in St. Maarten. For example, the locals will earn a living by extracting fish from the sea, mining coral, using coral stones for construction work, destroying fish sanctuaries, collecting snails and oysters. This could threaten the environment and biodiversity of the island.
Tofail Ahmed, President of TUAC, said: “Traders have suffered serious losses in the last seven months due to the closure of tourist spots due to Kovid-19 disease. They did not receive any help from the government. In such a situation, if the decision to restrict tourists and ban overnight stays in St. Martin is implemented, the tourism industry in general will collapse.
The president of Tuak has raised three demands, drawing the prime minister’s attention to the situation on the island of St. Martin. These are the current opportunities for tourists to visit St. Martin’s Island for the next five years. Do not include domestic tourists in the registration process and do not impose any type of service / travel charge. Only foreign tourists can register and service / travel fees can be charged to foreign tourists. Approve and support the implementation of the proposed project called ‘Ecotourism without plastic, Cox’s Bazar’ by Tuak.
Tuak has 12 proposals to solve the crisis on the island of San Martín by implementing Responsible Eco-Tourism combining tourism and the environment. These are highlighted in a written statement at the press conference:
1. Ensure the use and supply of alternative plastic products by declaring a total ban on the use of all kinds of plastic products that are harmful to the environment on the island of St. Maarten.
2. Maintain balance by building a modern dock 500 meters from the mainland to prevent erosion of the island.
3. Initiatives for the creation and implementation of eco-hotel, motel and home accommodation models by the Department of the Environment.
4. Force the use of solar energy generated on the island and prohibit the use of generators.
5. Declare a part of the island a sanctuary for biodiversity, forbidding it to tourists.
. Collect the garbage of tourists and locals in a designated place and bring the indigestible garbage to the mainland of the country and take on the project of declaring San Martín free of plastic.
. Protect the dunes by creating more and more cabins around them instead of geo-bags to prevent erosion of the island of San Martín, creating a fence of coconut and palm trees.
. Undertake a project to implement STP Central by the Department of the Environment to maintain the underground balance of the island of St. Martin.
9. Undertake seawater treatment projects to reduce the island’s groundwater pressure.
10. Carrying out research activities with local and foreign scientists on the protection of coral reefs and increasing levels of coral reefs.
11. Take steps to conserve underwater nature, ban activities that disrupt coral mining and fish farming, and raise awareness.
12. Development of the island of San Martín as a model of responsible ecotourism to develop marine tourism in the blue economy.
Also present at the press conference were Anwar Kamal, Senior Vice President of Tuak, Hossain Islam Bahadur, Vice President, Asaf ud-Daulah Ashek, General Secretary, Farooq Azam, Organizational Secretary, Al Amin Biswas, SA Kajal, Chittagong Secretary of Affairs Hill Tracts. Toha Islam, Shahidullah Naeem, Mohammad Yusuf, Mohammad Shibli Sadeq, Mohammad Musa, Zillur Rahman Chowdhury, Saim Rahman Avi.
[ad_2]
