Opportunities and Challenges for Tourism Utilizing Inland Waterways Transportation in Bangladesh

Author: Kaniz Fatima, M Shahid Ullah, KH M Nazmul Alam, Ajmira Bente Jannaty
DOI: doi.org/10.70279/bmj-v8-i1-1032
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In today’s world, tourism is gaining popularity very rapidly, both domestically and internationally. In Bangladesh also, buoyed by the economic growth and uprising living standards, the number of tourists has been increasing significantly every year. However, there is very scant involvement of maritime transportation sector in it, although the majority of tourism attractions and resources are situated along coastal area and river banks of the country. Cruise and passenger shipping have enormous contribution in tourism sector worldwide. Yet, it is a kind of untapped market in Bangladesh’s scenario. This study aims to find the opportunities and challenges to integrate water-based transportation sector in mainstream tourism industry of Bangladesh and the possible 
strategies in achieving it. To achieve this goal, the research is developed focusing on the popular and potential marine tourism destinations and activities within Bangladesh, keeping in mind the waterways connectivity of these places with major cities. A survey would be conducted to analyze public perception and interest in maritime tourism. The study has identified a number of challenges for the development of maritime tourism sector, key challenges being inadequate navigational facilities and infrastructure and lack of diversity in tourism products and destinations. To mitigate the challenges, few prospective tourism attractions with possible IWT routes have been proposed. Recommendations such as introduction of diverse tourism activities, ways to improve navigability and infrastructure, ensuring hassle-free one stop service for tourists have been discussed, on the basis of secondary data and the conducted survey.