Another 1194 tourists travel to St. Martin on 2nd day

A good number of tourists have travelled to the Saint Martin's Island on the second day of the start of ship operations from Cox's Bazar. A total of 1,194 tourists went to St. Martin Island on three ships on Tuesday while 1,174 people went there on the first day (Monday). A maximum of 2,000 tourists are allowed to travel daily.

At 7 am on Tuesday, three vessels—Karnafuli Express, MV Baro Awlia and Keari Sindbad—departed from the BIWTA jetty at Nuniyachhara. After traveling 120 kilometers, the ships reached the island at 1:30pm. The ships will return to Cox's Bazar with the tourists who went the previous day at 3pm. Tourists are getting the opportunity to travel and spend the night on the island for the entire two months of December-January.

Hossain Islam Bahadur, General Secretary of the Sea Cruise Operator Owners Association of Bangladesh, said that only 20 more tourists went on the trip today compared to the first day. He said that although 2,000 tourists are allowed to visit every day, about 800 fewer are coming. This could cause losses to ship owners. A total of about 110,000 tourists visited the island in December and January last year.

Hotel and restaurant owners, ship managers and employees said that many are canceling advance bookings and ship tickets due to strict regulations and the political situation.

The district administration, Department of Environment and Tourist Police enforced strict monitoring at every stage of boarding.

Twelve directives, issued to protect the coral island's biodiversity, were announced repeatedly at the jetty.

Officials were seen conducting checks for plastics and ensuring that no more than the permitted number of tourists boarded.

According to the government's directives, travel to the eight-square-kilometre coral island is permitted only from November to January, with a daily cap of 2,000 tourists.

Only daytime visits were allowed in November; overnight stays are permitted in December and January. Tourist movement will again close from 1 February for nine months.

The directives prohibit lighting fires or creating noise on the beach at night, entering keya forests, harming wildlife, riding motorised vehicles on the beach, and carrying polythene or single-use plastics such as chip packets, disposable spoons, and large plastic water bottles.

Tourists are encouraged to carry reusable flasks.

Four additional ships are on standby at the Nuniyachhara jetty and will be allowed to operate once they receive permission from the authorities.

In 1999, Saint Martin's Island was declared an Ecologically Critical Area (ECA). On 4 January 2023, the Ministry of Environment declared 1,743 square kilometres of the Bay of Bengal adjacent to the island a marine protected area.