Cox’s Bazar, the country’s premier tourist destination, is experiencing intense heat, with the unbearable weather conditions also affecting the tourism sector.
Despite the weekly holiday, tourist turnout at Cox’s Bazar sea beach remained significantly low on Friday, leaving the beach unusually quiet.
Visits to the Kolatoli, Sugandha, and Laboni points on the beach from morning to afternoon found only a small number of tourists compared with regular holiday crowds.
Throughout the day, the beach, typically bustling with thousands of tourists on weekends, appeared relatively empty.
A tourist from Dhaka, Saiful Islam, said that he had travelled to Cox’s Bazar with his family but had to spend most of the time inside the hotel because of the extreme heat.
‘When we came to the beach around noon, it felt as if our bodies were burning under the sun,’ he said.
Another tourist from Chattogram, Nusrat Jahan, said that entering the sea brought some relief, but staying on the beach for long had become difficult.
‘Many tourists are choosing to stay inside their hotel rooms instead of going outside,’ she said.
Senior lifeguard Rashid Ahmed, who was on duty at Sugandha point, said that tourist numbers remained very low during the morning and noon despite the weekly holiday.
He said that the number of visitors began to increase slightly in the afternoon and towards the evening.
Local business owners said that if the extreme heat continued, the tourism sector could face further negative impacts.
They said that the lower number of tourists, even during the weekly holiday, had already created concern among hotel and restaurant operators in the coastal town.
By Abdu Rashid Manik
Photo: Abdu Rashid Manik
