Saint Martin Reopens on 1 November: Maximum 3,500 Tourists a Day, Tk 100 Environment Fee

Bangladesh's only coral island, Saint Martin, will reopen to tourists from 1 November. A letter issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has directed the relevant offices to implement the decision.

Under the decision, tourists will be able to travel to the island until 15 March 2027. During this period, tourists will also be able to stay there overnight.

However, to protect the island's environment, a limit has been set of an average of no more than 3,500 tourists travelling to and from the island each day. In other words, no more than an average of 3,500 tourists a day can make the trip.

Each tourist will have to pay an environment conservation fee of Tk 100. The Department of Environment has been directed to take the necessary measures under Rule 26 of the Ecologically Critical Area (ECA) management rules.

The letter, issued on Sunday (25 October) from the Environment-2 branch of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, was signed by the ministry's Senior Assistant Secretary Sabrina Rahman.

The letter says approved tourist vessels will continue to operate from Nuniarchhara ghat during this period. In other words, tourists will have to reach the island through the designated ghat and on approved vessels.

The letter also says no vessel may be permitted to travel to Saint Martin without the approval of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and the Department of Shipping have been asked to follow this instruction.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, the Ministry of Shipping, the Department of Environment, the Cox's Bazar district administration, the Bangladesh Tourism Board, the Superintendent of Police and the Tourist Police have been directed to take the necessary measures to run tourism activities smoothly and protect the island's environment.

The ministry's letter also says all instructions in the Saint Martin notification issued on 22 October 2025 will remain in force. The conditions of the earlier notification will therefore apply in the same way in the new season.

How to protect the biodiversity of this ecologically critical coral island while also running tourism there has long been debated. The new decision clearly tries to balance the two sides — tourism stays open, but it is kept under control through a time limit, a daily cap and a fee.

For tourists, this means that planning a trip between 1 November and 15 March will allow travel to Saint Martin including overnight stays, but with a daily limit of 3,500 tourists they will need to keep in mind securing a seat on an approved vessel and paying the Tk 100 environment fee.

Implementation now rests with the relevant offices. Once vessel operations from Nuniarchhara ghat, fee collection and monitoring of the daily tourist count are in place, tourist travel to the island under the new rules will begin from 1 November.