In the busy and concrete city life, people get little time to travel to panoramic places. Eid vacations come with the opportunity of taking a break from the mundane daily life and visit the wonderful places of the country.
In Bangladesh, travelling during the vacation of Eid has become a growing trend -- be it a relaxing day tour or an adventurous trip to hills and mountain springs-as tourist spots remain abuzz with enthusiastic travellers during Eid vacations.
Apart from spending Eid days with families, many of those who live in the capital city prefer feeding their souls with the gentle breeze and profound beauty of nature with friends and family. And this is the reason why they grab the 4-5 days of break they get on occasion of Eid to travel alone, in a group or with family members.
The tourist sites of the greater Sylhet, Cox's Bazar, Patenga and Kuakata beaches, the Sundarbans, places in the Chattogram Hill Tracts, other national parks and non-traditional places became the main holidaymaking places, said travellers and tourist agencies.
Cox's Bazar and Patuakhali correspondents report that Cox's Bazar, Chattogram and Kuakata beaches started receiving post-Eid holidaymakers, a day after the Eid.
They said the local residential hotels, motels and travel agencies hope to get more tourists during the next few days.
Masudul Islam, a public bank employee, has taken a three-day tour to the greater Sylhet region with his wife Farzana to enjoy the Eid-ul-Azha vacation.
Masud said, "We pass days in rush over the year so Eid vacation is a suitable time to make a pleasure trip and pass some time close to nature which, to me, a fuel as well as a source of refreshment to start the busy city life again."
Another city resident, Naznin Shultana, is in Kuakata with her family. She said a three or four-day vacation has become rare in the busy city life. As all the family members remain busy working during the entire year, Eid holidays are a very good opportunity for travelling and spend quality time with each other.
Targeting the Eid vacation, tour operators, hotel-motel managers, transport facilitators and even tourist police made special arrangements and preparations for tourists. Many travel agencies, hotels and resorts come up with special offers, as well as many social media groups, create Eid trip events preceding the time.
Sales and Marketing manager of Royal Tulip Hotel, Cox's Bazar, Bayzid Nizam said that hotel owners are having greater rush than usual for two reasons -- people are getting four days of vacation with many extending their vacation up to one week with optional leave, while those staying in Cox's Bazar and working on Rohingya crisis occupied a good number of rooms.
"Ahead of the Eid vacation, almost all rooms were booked as we offered 40 per cent discount for the guests," said Bayzid.
Abul Kashem, President of Cox's Bazar Hotel-Motel and Guest House Owners Association said that they have got 80-90 per cent rooms booked this Eid which is 20 per cent more than that of Eid-ul-Fitr. The beach-side hotels got 100 per cent rooms booked, he added.
"By the time, until the second day of Eid, some 60 per cent tourists have arrived and the hotels will be full of guests by Saturday next," he said.
Sakhawat Hossain said the Kuakata beach is already crowded with the Eid holidaymakers.
Tourist spots, including Srimangal Buddhist Bihar, Miripara Sima Buddhist Vihara, National Park, Lemur Char, Shutki Pali, Rakhine Female Market, Gangamati, Kauerchar, Lal Kakra Char, Hilsa Park, are also abuzz with the visitors.
Meanwhile, security has been beefed in all the tourist spots across the country.
"Involvement of tourist police has enhanced security for the tourists in the areas. CCTV cameras have been installed in some important spots of Cox's Bazar by the police recently to ensure security," Sakhawat added.
Mentioning security as a 'big issue', traveller Naznin said, "While travelling, we have to remain worried about the security of the places. More necessary measures should be taken to ensure the safety of the travellers especially that of the women so that they can take part in recreational tours in large numbers."
While talking about the security of the Eid tourist rush, the Bangladesh Tourist Police (BTP) Additional DIG of Chittagong Division, Muhammad Muslim said that they have tightened the security at tourist zones and increased the number of law enforcers all over the country, including the main points in Cox's Bazar, Bandarban, Rangamati and Chattogram districts, UNB reported.
He, however, urged tourists to behave responsibly and communicate with duty officers as well as contacting the emergency tourist police in case of trouble.