After the shores lay quiet and the beaches were empty in recent weeks, St. Martin’s Island, Bangladesh’s only coral island, is getting ready to welcome visitors again. As of 1 December, tourist ships will become fully operational, permitting guests to stay overnight for the first time and opening a coveted travel window for nature lovers and holidaymakers.
A Controlled Yet Promising Reopening
The island reopened to tourists on 1 November, but the overnight visitor bans left St Martin’s a ghost town for the month. Since ships were still stuck ashore, not a single tourist set foot on the island. That is about to change.
Between 1 December and 31 January, seven boats will be in service every day, providing travellers with a safe and regulated passage through the Bay of Bengal. But authorities are treading carefully:
Only 2,000 tourists will be permitted to visit the island each day – a number that skews towards the preservation of much of its fragile ecosystem.
Journey to the Coral Paradise
The ships will set off from the Nuniachhara Jetty in Cox’s Bazar at 7 am and hit St Martin’s after the 120 km, 6–7 hr ride. Return trips are made the following day at 3 p.m., so guests can spend the night on the island.
The vessels added to the route are:
MV Karnaphuli Express
MV Baro Awlia
MV Bay Cruise
MV Kajal
Keari Sindbad
Keari Cruise & Dine
Atlantic Cruise
The cruises will run non-stop for two months to cater for the expected tourist influx.
Rising Interest Among Travellers
‘The tourists did not show interest in November, as they were denied the overnight stoppage,’ said Hossain Islam, general secretary of the Sea Cruise Operator Owners Association of Bangladesh. “Though just the fact that they have new guidelines and you can do it overnight, there’s already a huge interest in that,” he added.
Tighter Regulations for Sustainable Tourism
The government has imposed tighter controls to defend its delicate island ecosystem. Under the new travel circular:
No ship shall ply near the island without permission from BIWTA and the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change.
Tourists can attend only with tickets purchased online through a Bangladesh Tourism Board-approved site.
A QR-coded travel pass will be attached to each ticket, and anyone without that will be considered spurious.
Khandaker Mahbub Pasha, Deputy Director of the Department of Environment in Cox’s Bazar, said that thorough checks are being conducted at both Nuniachhara and St Martin’s jetties to enforce compliance and ensure that the daily tourist quota of 2,000 is not exceeded.
A New Beginning for Bangladesh’s Tourism Season
With peak travel season now kicking off, St Martin’s Island is on track for a cautious but hopefully robust recovery. Between greener policies, ordered regulations, and visitors’ renewed appetite for travel, the next few months are shaping up to offer some equilibrium between tourism and conservation.
December could be the right time for adventurers hankering for turquoise seas, coral reefs, and quieting sunsets to find their way back again to St Martin’s.