Tourist gang-rape: Cox’s Bazar tourism fears losing business

At a time when the tourism business in Cox's Bazar is trying to tide over Covid-19 induced losses, fear grips hoteliers, restaurant owners, and tourists following the recent incident of the alleged gang-rape of a woman.

Tourism service providers say tourist security has become a matter of great concern after repeated incidents of grave crimes in the country's largest tourist destination.

After the gang-rape of a tourist on Wednesday in the city, tourism stakeholders and service providers are fearful of a long-term impact on their businesses. 

Earlier on 31 October, tourists became hostages after the sudden vandalism orchestrated by the municipal workers in Cox's Bazar against the filing of an attempted murder case against Mayor Mujibur Rahman.

"If there is such a rape case and sudden incidents of vandalism in a tourist city, then tourists will naturally be afraid to come in near the future," Abdul Quadir Mishu, director of 5-star Ocean Paradise Hotel at Cox's Bazar, told TBS.

"Currently we have around 80-85% occupancy which is expected in this peak season. After the rape incident, we did not lose any advance booking till the 31st night. But we have no idea about the January bookings as we have been observing huge reactions from people who are infuriated over the rape incident," he added.

Every year, around 60-70 lakh tourists come to the world's largest sea beach in Cox's Bazar, which is home to around 450 hotels, motels, resorts, guest houses and restaurants, according to insiders. 

At least 77 projects are ongoing in Cox's Bazar, including some mega projects that aim at drastically changing the landscape of the district into a hub for not only tourism but trade and connectivity like the Philippines and Indonesia.

However, the city has been far from becoming tourist-friendly over the years, according to tourism sector insiders.

"Though our rest house provides high security, it is the tourist police and local administration's duty to take care of tourists' security in the beach areas," Nizam Uddin Al Sumon, head of sales and marketing of guest house Joltaranga, told TBS. 

"We smoothly handled a large number of tourists during the last Victory Day vacation. Unfortunately, the rape incident left a stain on our reputation," he added.

Mentioning the recent political violence, he said, "During the incident of vandalism in October, we were all terrified and anxious. The vandalism orchestrated by the municipal workers created a war-like situation." 

He added that they have full bookings till the last of this month. He urged the authorities to ensure a tourist-friendly city so that the tourism sector, the worst affected by Covid-19, can tide over the huge losses it sustained.  

A female tourist on Wednesday was reportedly gang-raped by local youths in Cox's Bazar as they held her husband and their eight-year-old child hostage.

RAB-15 rescued the woman from a motel early on Thursday. The force also arrested the hotel manager Riaz Uddin, 33, and identified three accused youths from CCTV footage.

The victim's husband filed a case at around 8pm on Thursday with Cox's Bazar Model police, 12 hours after the incident, against seven people.

According to the victim, the family of three went to Cox's Bazar on Wednesday morning from Dhaka's Jatrabari. They booked a room in the hotel at the Holiday intersection. 

"Irrespective of several questions, which are being raised over the rape incident, it is undeniable that the image of the tourism sector of Cox's Bazar was badly hurt," Abu Morshed Chowdhury, president, Cox's Bazar Chamber of Commerce and Industries, told The Business Standard.

"Many tourists, worried after the incident, have already cancelled their bookings and left," he added.

He also said that stakeholders of the tourism sector and local administration officials met on Friday, calling for the formation of a 24/7 monitoring cell in the interest of tourists' security. 

"Such incidents are more prevalent in small and medium-sized hotels," he said, adding that hotel owners were told to stay alert at the meeting.

Only 200 tourist policemen for thousands of tourists

Hundreds and thousands of tourists from all over the country flock to the beaches of Cox's Bazar beach whenever they get a few days' break from work. However, there are only 200 tourist policemen deployed in Cox's Bazar district, including Saint Martin Island, according to Cox's Bazar Tourist Police. 

There is no security arrangement for tourists in places like Himchhari, Ramu, Sonadia, Sabrang and Teknaf.

Crimes including mugging, snatching and murder are quite prevalent, claimed locals. 

Humayun Kabir, reserve officer at Cox's Bazar Tourist Police, told TBS, "If a tourist files a complaint to us in the beach area, we immediately handle the problem. But outside of the beach area, the local police station is responsible to look after tourists' security matters."

He claimed that the area, where the gang rape took place, falls beyond their jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, more than 120 tourists have drowned within four kilometres of Sugandha point in the last 10 years, according to the civil society forum, Cox's Bazar.

Police yet to make any arrest

Police are yet to make any arrest in the case filed by the victim's husband against seven individuals on Thursday evening.

Locals said the prime accused Ashikul Islam Ashik, who runs a gang of 32 youths, was seen freely roaming around the area until Thursday afternoon. Other accused are also in the area, they claimed. 

According to police sources, Ashiq has 16 cases against him and recently came out on bail. His aide Israfil Huda Joy, another accused in the case, has three cases against him.   

Cox's Bazar Police Officer-in-Charge Sheikh Munir Ul Giash said that the police are trying to nab the accused.

Police officials involved with the investigation said although the victim claimed to be visiting Cox's Bazar on Wednesday, they have reason to believe that the family has been staying in the district for three months, using various identities during their stay at different hotels.

"We are verifying her (the victim) claims. We are accumulating information, including their call record, to learn of their whereabouts in the past three months," a Cox's Bazar police official told TBS, on condition of anonymity. 

Another official, linked with the probe, said that there are allegations that the victim knew the accused from before. 

"Besides, they used different names in the hotel register and in the case statement, which has raised questions," he added.  

Additional Police Superintendent of Cox's Bazar, Muhammad Mohiuddin, said there were large crowds in the evening where the alleged incident was reported. 

"There should be a huge crowd of people, including other shopkeepers or drivers, at Laboni Point. No eyewitness statement has been received so far. Moreover, there is a strong patrol of the tourist police all the time. As a result, the incident is quite mysterious," he said.

According to the victim, the family of three went to Cox's Bazar on Wednesday morning from Jatrabari. They booked a room in the hotel at the Holiday intersection. 

Later in the day her husband accidentally bumped into a stranger while strolling at Laboni Point, leading to an altercation, following which her husband and child were picked up in a CNG auto-rickshaw from in front of the tourist golf course in the evening.

At that time, three youths picked up the victim in another CNG autorickshaw and raped her behind a tea stall across the golf course. Later, they took her to Zia Guest Inn and raped her again. 

The perpetrators then locked her in the room and fled the scene after threatening to kill her husband and child if the incident was reported.

The victim was quick to seek help and managed to contact RAB, which then came and rescued her at 1:30am. Her husband and children were rescued from the tourist golf course area.

Our correspondent Sayeed Alamgir in Cox's Bazar contributed to this report