When will Sajek reopen? A month-long shutdown in peak season has crippled the hills' tourism economy

Dhaka, 12 November 2026 — The peak tourist season has begun, yet Sajek Valley, the country's most popular hill destination, has no visitors. The tourist area in Rangamati's Baghaichhari upazila has been at a standstill for almost a month: road blockades in phases since 11 October, then a district administration order closing Sajek from the evening of 21 October "until further notice". Nobody can yet say when it will reopen.

On Thursday (12 November), Sheikh Salman, Assistant Commissioner and Executive Magistrate at the Rangamati Deputy Commissioner's office, told Prothom Alo that the administration had not yet taken any decision on reopening the Sajek tourist area. Any decision, he said, would be announced through a formal public notice, as before.

How Sajek was shut

The Sajek Gono Odhikar Rokkha Committee and the Sajek Karbari Association first blockaded the Sajek road on 11 October over three demands. After a pause for Durga Puja, the two groups announced on 21 October an indefinite blockade from 22 October. That night an emergency public notice signed by Rangamati Deputy Commissioner Nazma Ashrafi closed Sajek temporarily "for unavoidable reasons", and tourists were told to leave by the following day.

On Tuesday night, Sajek Karbari Association president Notun Joy Chakma announced that his group was withdrawing from the blockade. But Babudhan Chakma, convener of the Sajek Gono Odhikar Rokkha Committee, said its movement and blockade would continue. Traffic on the Sajek road has not returned to normal, and no tourist vehicles are leaving Khagrachhari for Sajek.

A local economy collapsed in a month

"Sajek has more than 100 resorts and cottages, employing over 3,000 local people," Md Faysal Mahmud, media secretary of the Sajek Cottage and Resort Owners Association, told Bangladesh Traveller. "Everything has been closed for a month. These people now have no work."

The damage goes well beyond the resorts. A whole local economy runs on Sajek's tourism: the jeep and "chander gari" drivers who carry visitors from Khagrachhari, restaurants and food stalls, local grocers, and hill families who sell fruit and produce to tourists. "No tourists means no fares for drivers, no customers in restaurants, no sales in shops," Faysal Mahmud said. "The local economy has completely collapsed."

During the blockade the area also faced a rice shortage, and police and the army helped residents obtain rice. Ujobazar, the area's largest market, came back to life on Wednesday for the first time in about 20 days, but income from tourism remains at zero.

Timing makes the losses worse. November to February is Sajek's peak season, when a large share of the year's income is earned. Resort owners say advance bookings have been cancelled, while staff wages, rent and loan instalments fall due with no income coming in.

A committee, but no solution

On 25 October the Rangamati district administration met headmen and karbaris and formed a three-member mediation committee to resolve the crisis. Khagrachhari MP Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, chair of the parliamentary standing committee on Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs, attended the meeting, and Rangamati MP Dipen Dewan said then that the Sajek issue could be resolved through dialogue. Two and a half weeks after the committee was formed, the blockade has not fully lifted and there is no roadmap for reopening.

"A committee was formed, but nothing effective has come of it," Faysal Mahmud said. "Even with elected representatives involved, there has been no resolution. We just want to know when Sajek will reopen."

What is needed now

People in the tourism sector say security concerns are real, but an indefinite closure is not a solution. In their view, the government now needs to act on several fronts:

• Time-bound dialogue: publish the mediation committee's timeline and progress, and reach a quick settlement with all parties.
• A clear reopening roadmap: announce in advance on what terms and when Sajek will reopen, so travellers and tour operators can plan.
• Safe movement: if needed, run tourist vehicles at fixed times under security-force supervision, reopening tourism at least on a limited scale.
• Support for those affected: emergency help for idle resort workers, drivers and small traders, and temporary relief on loan instalments for resort owners.
• Active tourism bodies: a coordinated push from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, the Bangladesh Tourism Board and the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs.

Peace in the hills and the livelihoods of the people who live there are equally urgent. Every day of peak season that passes makes the wait longer for thousands of families in Sajek.

Sources: Sajek Cottage and Resort Owners Association, Rangamati district administration; reporting by Prothom Alo, The Business Standard Bangla, Dhaka Times and DBC News.