Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
Bangladesh's fledgling but troubled tourism industry is slowly luring foreign and domestic travellers, industry officials say. One of the most popular destinations this winter was this beach resort town of Cox's Bazar on the Bay of Bengal, which drew sun-worshippers from as far away as Europe and Southeast Asia.
"Foreigners come here, but we cannot offer everything they need. But still they enjoy the beach and of course the warmth of the people here," said Mahbubul Alam Akash, who hires out colourful beach chairs and sun umbrellas. "A large number of Bangladeshis crowd the town now and their number has been increasing over the past years... we will find time to breathe once the official tourism season is over."
There are no official figures on the numbers of visitors to Cox's Bazar this winter, but hotel owners said the 10,000 rooms available were full almost seven days a week in December and a second rush is expected for the Eid-al Adha festival February 13. "The winter season helps us to go through rest of the year, when the number of travellers drop dramatically along with revenue," said an official at a major hotel.
Cox's Bazar got its first five-star accomodation in December, a hotel overlooking the world's largest natural white sand beach and basking in its spectacular sunsets.
The maximum temperature here in the winter is only about 12 degrees Celsius (53.6 degrees Fahrenheit), but tourists on the seashore enjoy cups of tea, snacks or the very popular green coconut water.
A spokesman for the state-owned Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC), told AFP tourism was growing every year, with the government doing its best to lure travellers to the South Asian nation.
BPC statistics show just 11,179 people visited the country in 1992, but the figure jumped massively in 2000 to 207,199 visitors, who brought in about 2.65 billion taka (about 46 million USD) in foreign exchange. No figures are available for 2001 and 2002. Of total travellers in 2000, nearly 18.56 percent came to Bangladesh for pleasure visits, 16.47 percent were on business and the remainder - nearly 70 percent - had multiple reasons for arriving. Britons, Americans, Koreans, Japanese, Indians, Nepalese and Pakistanis topped the list of foreign travellers.
The Bangladesh Monitor, a fortnightly tabloid focusing on the tourism industry, said Bangladesh was a promising destination for foreign tourists, but infrastructure problems, including hotel accommodation, were a major impediment to growth.
"Infrastructure development is the key to expansion of the tourism sector," said Hasan Mansur, managing director of travel company, The Guide Tours Ltd. "People did not think of going to the Banderban hill district, but now that we built some facilities there is no dearth of travellers to the area."
Private hotels have recently been built in the picturesque southeastern Banderban district, where a tribal insurgency ended in 1997 with a peace treaty. The government recently handed over some of BPC's motels and restaurants in Cox's Bazar and elsewhere to private management to increase revenue as well as ensure better facilities for tourists.
Locals, too, are saving their taka to travel, choosing destinations like Cox's Bazar and islands in the Bay of Bengal, as well as the Sunderbans, the world's largest mangrove forests, the tea-growing Sylhet district, the southeastern hill tracts region and historical sites.
"The growth of Bangladeshis travelling within the country is significant and they also include those who would normally prefer holidaying in Bangkok or Singapore," Mansur said. "The change of attitude is positive, but we have to ensure we can hold on to them."
Such efforts have not gone unnoticed by visitors, including one Westerner who spent time in the southwestern Chandpur district where the Padma and Meghna rivers join. "Your whole country is beautiful and all it needs is proper protection as well as some facilities to draw tourists," he said. "I loved the villages, its people, their kindness and some specially-made foods they said were only available during winter."
COX'S BAZAR, September 16, 2008 - With his fluorescent board shorts and muscular body, Jafar Alam does not look like a typical Bangladeshi.While most men his age in this conservative Muslim country are obsessed with cricket, the 25-year-old is more likely to be found surfing the waves on one of the world's longest beaches.
Alam, who says he is Bangladesh's first surfer, is working to not only popularise the sport, but also to build international recognition for the largely untouched beach where he surfs.
This month he will hold his fourth annual surfing competition, when a group of 15 American surfers will descend on the beach to compete against locals.
Until Alam started the Cox's Bazar Surf Club in 2002 -- based out of the two-room house he shares with five family members -- he said the sport did not exist in his country. He now has 48 students, including 12 girls.
Although home to a 125-kilometre (78-mile) stretch of unbroken coast, it was only the occasional intrepid international tourist who would test the waves, he said.
A decade ago Alam bought a surfboard from a visiting Australian tourist for 20 US dollars, and for five years tried to teach himself.
He found it difficult to stand up and would often lose his board as he had no leash.
Finally he was spotted through a pair of binoculars by Tom Bauer, founder of the Honolulu-based non-profit organisation Surfing the Nations, which promotes surfing in impoverished countries.
"He gave me a proper leash and polished my board with wax. It was the first time I'd heard the words leash and wax," Alam says. "He asked me how many surfers were in my country. He'd found none except me."
Bauer, who will return to Cox's Bazar for this month's competition, likens the surfing conditions in southern Bangladesh to those at the famous Huntington Beach in California.
He says the sport has enormous potential to boost tourism in Bangladesh, where nearly 40 percent of the 144 million population survive on less than a dollar a day.
"It's one of the hottest things for tourism in the whole nation," Bauer says, adding that Alam has even used his surfboard to save people from drowning.
"Like all Islamic nations, people don't go into the ocean. They go fishing, but so many kids drown. They don't know about water safety."
Bauer says that while the world's surfers go out of their way to find waves off the beaten track, Bangladesh is still very much under the radar.
"When I first went there, people would say ‘Are you crazy?'. But I always knew there were waves. We are showing the world," he said.
International tourism is a tiny sector in Bangladesh. Just 0.1 percent of visitors to the Asia Pacific region will stop off in Bangladesh, according to the World Tourism Organisation.
Cox's Bazar local politician Mohammed Shahiduzzaman believes surfing could help bring foreign visitors to the region.
"It could create a lot of interest. The potential is endless," he said.
Both Alam and Bauer say that trying to make the sport mainstream in Bangladesh is not always easy.
"The girls wear a T-shirt and cotton trousers while they surf. They can't wear the saris that they normally wear out of the water because you can't surf in a sari," Alam says.
"Five of my female students have dropped out because some families say surfing attacks social and religious values. Some girls wear shorts and T-shirts."
Running the surf club is now Alam's full-time job and Surfing the Nations has sponsored him to visit Indonesia and Sri Lanka to take part in surfing contests.
Bauer says despite the challenges, he believes Alam's legacy as the country's first surfer will have a place in the history books.
"Surfing will revolutionise how people in Bangladesh think about the water in the same way surfing has revolutionised the beaches in Australia."
Surfing Cox's Bazar
Alam, who says he is Bangladesh's first surfer, is working to not only popularise the sport, but also to build international recognition for the largely untouched beach where he surfs.
This month he will hold his fourth annual surfing competition, when a group of 15 American surfers will descend on the beach to compete against locals.
Until Alam started the Cox's Bazar Surf Club in 2002 -- based out of the two-room house he shares with five family members -- he said the sport did not exist in his country. He now has 48 students, including 12 girls.
Although home to a 125-kilometre (78-mile) stretch of unbroken coast, it was only the occasional intrepid international tourist who would test the waves, he said.
A decade ago Alam bought a surfboard from a visiting Australian tourist for 20 US dollars, and for five years tried to teach himself.
He found it difficult to stand up and would often lose his board as he had no leash.
Finally he was spotted through a pair of binoculars by Tom Bauer, founder of the Honolulu-based non-profit organisation Surfing the Nations, which promotes surfing in impoverished countries.
"He gave me a proper leash and polished my board with wax. It was the first time I'd heard the words leash and wax," Alam says. "He asked me how many surfers were in my country. He'd found none except me."
Bauer, who will return to Cox's Bazar for this month's competition, likens the surfing conditions in southern Bangladesh to those at the famous Huntington Beach in California.
He says the sport has enormous potential to boost tourism in Bangladesh, where nearly 40 percent of the 144 million population survive on less than a dollar a day.
"It's one of the hottest things for tourism in the whole nation," Bauer says, adding that Alam has even used his surfboard to save people from drowning.
"Like all Islamic nations, people don't go into the ocean. They go fishing, but so many kids drown. They don't know about water safety."
Bauer says that while the world's surfers go out of their way to find waves off the beaten track, Bangladesh is still very much under the radar.
"When I first went there, people would say ‘Are you crazy?'. But I always knew there were waves. We are showing the world," he said.
International tourism is a tiny sector in Bangladesh. Just 0.1 percent of visitors to the Asia Pacific region will stop off in Bangladesh, according to the World Tourism Organisation.
Cox's Bazar local politician Mohammed Shahiduzzaman believes surfing could help bring foreign visitors to the region.
"It could create a lot of interest. The potential is endless," he said.
Both Alam and Bauer say that trying to make the sport mainstream in Bangladesh is not always easy.
"The girls wear a T-shirt and cotton trousers while they surf. They can't wear the saris that they normally wear out of the water because you can't surf in a sari," Alam says.
"Five of my female students have dropped out because some families say surfing attacks social and religious values. Some girls wear shorts and T-shirts."
Running the surf club is now Alam's full-time job and Surfing the Nations has sponsored him to visit Indonesia and Sri Lanka to take part in surfing contests.
Bauer says despite the challenges, he believes Alam's legacy as the country's first surfer will have a place in the history books.
"Surfing will revolutionise how people in Bangladesh think about the water in the same way surfing has revolutionised the beaches in Australia."
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