After a month of quiet during Ramadan, Cox’s Bazar is once again teeming with tourists as Eid-ul-Fitr holidays bring a surge of visitors. Despite hotels and resorts slashing room rates by up to 75% during Ramadan, the lack of tourists had left businesses struggling. Many tourism-dependent restaurants and shops remained closed.

However, the holiday season has now revived the city’s vibrancy, with tourists arriving from Monday afternoon and numbers expected to rise from Tuesday as visitors from other districts make their way to the coastal town. Earlier, hotels, resorts and restaurants underwent cleaning and renovations in preparation for the influx, with small business owners and street vendors also gearing up for the season.

Tourism operators anticipate a significant number of visitors due to the extended nine-day holiday. Cox’s Bazar remained a top travel destination, offering not just the beach but also mountains, rivers and waterfalls, said industry insiders. According to hotel owners, an average of 250,000 to 300,000 tourists visited Cox’s Bazar weekly in the four months before Ramadan. Last year’s Eid-ul-Fitr holidays saw hundreds of thousands of tourists, and this year, pre-bookings indicate a similar turnout.

Between April 2 and 5, around 80% of hotel rooms have been booked, with luxury hotels securing reservations until April 12. Five hundred-plus hotels, motels and guesthouses in the city and on Marine Drive can accommodate around 170,000 tourists.