Dhaka: Noting that the eviction of hotels from the city’s residential areas will adversely affect the country’s tourism business as well economy, hotel business leaders have urged the authorities concerned to refrain from dismantling those.

‘Drives have already started in many places to evict hotels from residential areas. It should be stopped immediately,’ director of The Westin Dhaka (Room and Operation) Shakawath Hossain told a press conference on Sunday.

Bangladesh International Hotel Association (BIHA) arranged the press conference at Amrai Dhaka Hotel to present their stance on the government’s move to evict hotels from the residential areas, following the recent terror attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery at Gulshan, reports UNB.

BIHA President HM Hakim Ali said the government has taken various security measures after the terror attack on the Spanish restaurant.

Referring to the recent terrorist attack carried out in France, he said such problems remain everywhere across the world right now. ‘So, hotels should not be removed from residential areas on security grounds.’

Hakim Ali said star hotels running in Gulshan area are giving services to foreign tourists. ‘If the hotels are removed from the area on the pleas of security, it’ll send out a negative message to the visiting tourists,’ he added.

BIHA adviser and managing director of La Vinci Hotel Saidul Alam said although the star hotels running in the country are yet to receive any notice from the agencies concerned to relocate their hotels, but they fear they will get such notices in the days to come.

Nearly 200 hotels have already received notices to remove their hotels from the residential areas although they are running their business taking permission from the government, he said.

Observing that hotels could not be removed from the residential areas overnight, Saidul Alam said the government has to give enough time for hotel relocation and managing land to relocate those. ‘It should sit with the hotel owners in this regard.’

Amrai Dhaka general manager Kelly Lewis said about US$ 30 million has already been invested in his hotel and if the hotel is evicted from Gulshan, the hotel management will incur a huge loss.