Claiming that the country’s tourism sector has suffered a loss of Tk 2,000 crore in the last three years due to the political stalemate, president of Tour Operators’ Association of Bangladesh (Toab) Akbaruddin Ahmed on Saturday urged the government to provide financial support to recoup the losses.

He came up with the call at a roundtable discussion titled ‘Tourism Sector: Challenges Ahead’ arranged at the Jatiya Press Club.

Akbaruddin said winter is the peak season for tourism in the country. ‘Despite that, the entrepreneurs faced a loss of nearly Tk 2,000 crore in the three consecutive years due to the hartal and blockade.’

Recently, the tourism business has declined by 95% due to the ongoing political programmes like nonstop blockade and hartal, he said.

The Toab chief further said foreign tourists are cancelling their tour schedules on security grounds amid the political turbulence.

He demanded that the government provide compensation and interest-free loan to the affected tour operators, and waive income tax for the fiscal years, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15, and bank interests.

Referring to the compensation provided by the Prime Minister to the bus owners affected during the ongoing hartal and blockade, Toab member SM Moksedul Islam said, ‘The country’s tourism sector experienced a great disaster. Now, who will assist us to recoup the losses?’

Toab vice-presidents Mohammadd Rafiuzzaman and Hafizur Rahman, its former president Hasan Monsur and Bangladesh International Hotel Association (BIHA) president Hakim Ali also spoke at the programme.