Kolkata: Indian envoy to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi’s announcement that India will resume issuing tourist visas to Bangladeshi citizens has brought relief to businesses in Kolkata’s Mini Bangladesh, where hotels, restaurants and shops have struggled since the suspension began nearly two years ago after the 2024 July uprising.The decision is being seen as a lifeline by around 350 hotels in the Marquis Street, Sudder Street, Free School Street, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road and Collin Lane belt, where both occupancy and average room tariffs had reduced by nearly half. Restaurants, foreign exchange dealers, transport operators, apparel stores and the 3,000-odd shopkeepers of New Market are also expecting business to revive. Traders said daily business in New Market had dropped from about Rs 500 crore to Rs 50 crore.Speaking to TOI, Calcutta Hotels, Guest Houses and Restaurants Owners’ Association president Harmit Singh said the announcement had changed the mood across the central Kolkata business district, which depends heavily on visitors from Bangladesh.“The entire belt in this central Kolkata area depends overwhelmingly on Bangladeshi tourists. In hotels, occupancy and average room rent had crashed by 50%. While the average tariff was around Rs 2,000 earlier, it is now Rs 900-1,000. Some hotels and restaurants have closed. Foreign exchange shops, transport operators, apparel stores are all looking forward to the arrival of Bangladeshi tourists,” said Singh.Business owners, however, remain cautious. They said there had earlier been word that tourist visas for Bangladeshis would resume from May 6, but that did not happen. “People are keeping their fingers crossed. Once visas are issued, hoteliers will get busy reopening rooms that are shut and shops will stock up,” said Rajesh Sethi, general secretary of the Association. Hoteliers said the return of Bangladeshi tourists would not only raise room occupancy but also allow tariffs to recover. Unlike domestic business travellers, who often stay for one or two days, Bangladeshi visitors typically spend at least a week in the city. In New Market, traders said business had collapsed by more than 70% after India withdrew visas in Aug 2024, following the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina govt in a violent uprising.“Around 3,000 shops in New Market have been just about surviving these past couple of years. Prior to that, almost 70-75% of the business was generated by Bangladeshi tourists,” said SS Hogg Market Traders Association president, Ashok Gupta. Md Mustafa, a chocolate, dry fruits and cosmetics seller, said what their would sales would be in a day couple of years back, it was now taking a month to meet that level.
