Tourism restricted to save St Martin’s Island: Rizwana

Referring to all the negative publicity surrounding travel restrictions on St Martin’s Island, Environment Advisor Syeda Rizwana Hasan says that the government has imposed some limitations on tourism to protect the only coral island in the country.

She made the comments while speaking to reporters after the One Health Day programme at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka on Monday.

Speaking of the destruction of the corals due to uncontrolled development of hotels and motels on the island, Rizwana said: “If this continues, by 2025, all the corals will be destroyed and St Martin’s will sink.”

According to the interim government’s new limitations, St Martin’s Island will be open to tourists from November to January.

However, tourists will not be allowed to stay overnight on the island in November.

In December and January, up to 2,000 tourists will be permitted to visit daily and stay overnight. However, no tourists will be allowed in February.

Referring to the concerns of those who are criticising the government’s decision, Rizwana said: “People are muddying the waters for no reason about St Martin’s. There is one group who will always question the actions of the interim government with negative publicity.”

“Will you save Saint Martin’s first or develop the tourism industry? This can’t be described as an industry at the moment. The way tourism is going at St Martin’s, it is not possible for me to call it an industry.”

She added: “It is being said that 41 percent of the corals have been destroyed. This is a national statistic. According to internationally accepted journals, if this continues, all the corals will be destroyed by 2025 and St Martin’s Island will sink. Where will the tourism go then?”

“Corals are being planted in hotels. Tourists are visiting and picking up corals,” said Rizwana while speaking of the unregulated development of both hotels and motels on the island.

She also used examples of other coral islands in the world where overnight stays are barred and tourists are only allowed to roam around for an hour or so in small boats.

“If you go to Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and visit their popular tourist spots, you will see that they are closed for years only for regeneration,” said Rizwana.

“We’re somewhere in the middle right now. This is because if we implement a ban on tourism right now, we won’t be giving the locals who live there the time to prepare. That’s why tourism is still allowed on St Martin’s Island.”