Kuakata’s tourism business has been hit hard by the Corona epidemic in the last two years. Most of the traders who depend on tourism have to count the losses. However, as the situation is normal, the tourist center has started to return to its previous state. People involved in the tourism business are also bracing themselves in the hope of overcoming the losses.

Crowds of tourists have been spotted in Kuakata during the Eid holidays. Dry traders, snail-oyster sellers, various types of vehicle drivers, tour operators, and tourism-dependent traders are also seeing the light of hope in the presence of tourists. Their sales have also increased.

Motaleb Sharif, general secretary of the Kuakata Hotel-Motel Owners Association, told Prothom Alo that almost all hotel owners in Kuakata have bank loans. They have to repay the loan in installments every month. In the last two years, the hotel business has collapsed and the hotel owners have paid the installments. In the last two years, the hotel business has lost at least four to five hundred crore rupees. Apart from this, there has been a loss of about one thousand crore rupees in other businesses including dry goods, fish, snails, oysters, food hotels, entertainment, tour operators, and other tourism-dependent businesses.

Motaleb Sharif said traders were trying to turn around as the situation in Corona was normal. Traders will be able to overcome this loss if the number of tourists in Kuakata increases on various occasions including Eid. On the day of Eid, five to seven thousand people were present in Kuakata. Attendance is on the rise on the second day of Eid. He hopes that Kuakata will return to normal.

From the afternoon of Eid, the crowd of tourists in Kuakata has been increasing. Most of the tourists were from different parts of the Barisal, Barguna, and Patuakhali districts. On the second day of Eid, people from different parts of the country flocked to Kuakata this morning. Today, Kuakata Seema Buddhist Monastery, Misri Para Buddhist Monastery, Lembur Char, and Hilsa Park have a large presence of tourists