Saint Martin’s Island, the country’s only coral island, will reopen to tourists on November 1, with daily visitor numbers capped at 3,500 until March 15, 2027 and each visitor required to pay a Tk 100 environmental conservation fee.
Environment-2 wing of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change issued a letter in this regard on Sunday.
According to the letter, the decisions were taken at an inter-ministerial meeting held at the ministry’s conference room on October 12 chaired by Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo, to regulate tourist movement to the ecologically critical island.
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and the Department of Shipping will not be allowed to authorise vessel operations to the island without approval from the environment ministry.
Tourist vessels authorised to operate from Nuniachhara Ghat in Cox’s Bazar will continue their services, the letter said.
The Department of Environment has been asked to take necessary steps to collect the environmental conservation fee from tourists in accordance with Rule 26 of the Ecologically Critical Area Management Rules, 2016.
The letter also stated that all directives issued in the ministry’s notification dated October 22, 2025, would remain in force.
The ministry sent the letter to the secretaries of the ministries of Civil Aviation and Tourism and Shipping, the divisional commissioner of Chattogram, the director general of the Department of Environment (DoE), the chairman of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, the director general of the Department of Shipping, the chairman of BIWTA, the chief executive officer of the Bangladesh Tourism Board and the deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar, asking them to take necessary measures to implement the decisions. -UNB