The country's tourism sector insiders fear a poll-time damper on their business this tourism season with the national election slated for December 30.
Although the tourist season kicked off in September, tour operators said they saw hardly any sign of that much tourist arrival in the country.
The tourists usually prefer the season when winter starts in the USA, EU, UK or other parts of the world.
They said the number of inbound tourists fell to one-tenth in past five years compared to the figure in 2013-14.
But Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB), the national tourism organisation, responsible for promotion of the country's travel and tourism industry, disagreed with the fact, saying that they did not have such information.
Masud Hossain, managing director of The Bengal Tours Ltd, one of the country's major inbound tour operators, told the FE that inbound business was very dull due to political tensions ahead of the upcoming general election. Both the tour operators and tourists were feeling insecure, he added.
"Besides, most of the countries all over the world including the US, UK, EU, Australia, Japan have issued travel alerts for their citizens and they never lifted the alerts in the past four years making the situation worse," he said.
"This year I may hardly handle 500 tourists compared to 6,000-6,500 in 2013-14. I still have two to three groups this month who have not yet cancelled their trip," he added.
President of Bangladesh Inbound Tour Operators' Association Rezaul Ekram said the tourists were not arriving as they were apprehensive of political tension ahead of the national election. Besides, no steps were taken to promote the tourism industry worldwide which could have helped overcome the image crisis in the wake of the Holey Artisan attack, he added.
"The number of inbound tourists is on the decline automatically as there is no nursing of the sector," he said.
Touch Creation Ltd Deputy Managing Director Mahbub Hossain Sumon said the inbound tour business was in its worst state. The business would be hard hit in December due to election, he added.
"Two groups from Japan who wanted to come to Bangladesh during Victory Day celebration to experience our culture have already cancelled their trip. They have rescheduled the trip to February," he said. The business would depend on what the political situation, would be, he added.
Euro Bangla Tour Ltd chief operating officer Jakir Hossain said overall business was very bad this year while the number of inbound tourists was almost nil. Domestic tourist movement also dropped drastically due to election, he added.
"There were some inbound tourist groups last year. I also handled over 200 domestic tourists in Cox's Bazar, Srimangal and Sunderbans last year. The number has come down to 80-90 this year from September to November," he said.
Besides, big corporate groups have not yet confirmed any of their trips in December fearing political unrest, although there was a chance of good business after December 15.
When contacted, BTB Chief Executive Officer Jahangir Hossain said he had nothing to make comment about this kind of claim as the overall situation of the country is stable. So, there is no reason for bad business, he added.
"I find the overall situation of the country quite stable. You should talk to those operators who claimed that their business is bad," said Mr Jahangir. Neither any tour operator had said so nor he had any such information, he added.
"We are working tirelessly to develop the tourism sector. The sector has been advancing in full swing," he claimed.
There are as many as 400 tour operators in the country and about 40 of them work for inbound tourists. Industry insiders say hardly 30,000 tourists enter Bangladesh to spend leisure time.
Referring to the data provided by immigration department, the tourism board authority at a press conference in September said the number of inbound tourists reached about 0.73 million in 2017.
Regarding the number of outbound tourists, the BTB CEO acknowledged that they did not have any such data.
The national tourism organisation claimed that the situation improved much in terms of the country's image crisis abroad after the Holey Artisan attack as judged by the feedback of tour operators.
