Covid-19 costs country's tourism, hospitality sector BDT 60,000cr

Dhaka : The country's hospitality and tourism sector lost about BDT 60,000 crore in gross value added during the Covid-19 pandemic, said Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies in a survey.
According to the estimate of the research organisation, the sector would have contributed about BDT 150,000 crore in terms of gross value added if there had not been any pandemic. However, it was eventually reduced to BDT 95,000 crore by the coronavirus outbreak.
The survey, titled "The Covid-19 Pandemic and Hospitality and Tourism Sector in Bangladesh", was revealed at a seminar organised by the BIDS at its conference room in Dhaka on April 10.
BIDS conducted the primary survey with enterprises and employees drawn from 200 hotels and resorts, 138 travel agencies and tour operators, 200 restaurants, and 63 tourism SMEs across the eight divisional cities and Cox's Bazar.
The enterprises under the hospitality and tourism sector perceive that recovery of losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic is almost impossible without assistance from the government, the study claimed. 
The sub-sectors mainly charted out two major types of support: fiscal stimulus and access to credit at low-interest rates.
Jabed Ahmed, CEO, Bangladesh Tourism Board, Binayak Sen, Director General, BIDS, Mohammad Yunus, Senior Research Fellow, BIDS, Mohammad Mainul Hoque, Research Fellow, and Tahreen Tahrima Chowdhury, Research Associate, were present on the occasion.