Global Journal of Management and Business Research, F: Real Estate, Event and Tourism Management, Volume 22 Issue 3

© 2022 Global Journals 59 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXII Issue III Version I Year 2022 ( ) F River Tourism in Bangladesh: Present Status and Future Prospects Many tourist spots across the country are yet to gain popularity among tourists both from home and abroad due to a lack of proper promotional and marketing activities. To attract tourists from home and abroad, we need to give importance to promotional activities. In every year thousands of hectares of river-side land erosion happened in rainy season. This is one of the biggest challenges to grow this specific tourism sub- sector. Sufficient skilled man power needed for developing and operating river tourism. Otherwise insufficient skilled man power may cause this sector collapsed before booming. VIII. R ecommendations for S ustainable D evelopment of R iver T ourism 1. Ensuring local community involvement in the process of river tourism development makes tourism sustainable and everlasting. 2. Need to promote local heritage, festivals, and culture of river areas for attracting local and foreign tourists. 3. Public awareness should be increased among both local people and tourists to control environmental pollution. 4. Infrastructural and super- infrastructural development needs to be carried out to the river tourism spots. 5. Foreign tour operators can be used as another way to promote river tourism in Bangladesh across the world. It will help to reach more foreign tourists. Moreover, this can boost our tourism sector rapidly. 6. The development of sustainable river tourism is a long-term phenomenon. Development planning for the short-term will help to gain long-term achievement. 7. Many countries are promoting tourism through on- arrival visas. So Bangladesh could implement on arrival visa service for foreign tourists to promote river tourism. 8. Safety and security arrangement is inadequate in river area for tourism. Proper security needs to be ensured and a one-stop information system can be introduced for tourist’s safety. 9. Proper marketing approaches should be taken to reach the maximum number of tourists for river tourism. 10. Specialized academic and training centers are needed to create skilled manpower for the river tourism sector. Special rescue teams and lifeguards should be prepared to avoid any kind of accidents. 11. Laws should be imposed to rescue river areas which are abused. Special campaigning, seminar, and conference can be arranged for raising awareness to protect rivers and riverside areas. IX. C onclusion As a riverine country, river tourism has tremendous potential in Bangladesh. River tourism in Bangladesh is expanding gradually. Local and foreign tourists are very much interested to take part in river tourism. By improving the existing river tourism spots and activities, also developing new ones, the country can attract a significant number of local and international tourists. Also, this sector has great potential to reduce the unemployment rate by generating new job opportunities. Though there are lots of challenges in developing river tourism which includes fewer river tourism scopes and activities, safety issues, lack of infrastructure, lack of efficient human resources, lack of environmental awareness, insufficient promotional work, etc. The development of the river tourism sector depends on how efficiently and effectively these challenges can be overcome. Several strategies are discussed to mitigate these challenges in this report. Proper planning and implementation should be ensured for the development of river tourism. In this way, this particular tourism sector may bring economic prosperity to the national economy. R eferences R éférences R eferencias 1. Abbas, ErsisWarmansyah, et al. "Portrait of Tourism Based on River Tourism in Banjarmasin." The Kalimantan Social Studies Journal 3.1 (2021): 18- 26. 2. Ajake, Anim O., and Titus E. Amalu. "The relevance of tourism on the economic development of Cross River state, Nigeria." Journal of Geography and Regional Planning 5.1 (2012): 14. 3. Akpan, Emmanuel I., and Catherine E. Obang. "Tourism: A strategy for sustainable economic development in Cross River State, Nigeria." International Journal of Business and Social Science 3.5 (2012). 4. Amnuay-ngerntra, Sompong, and S. Hideki. "Developing river tourism on the upper Mekong: Challenges and opportunities." European Journal of Business and Social Sciences 1.10 (2013): 36. 5. Banglapedia, 2004, https://en.banglapedia.org/ index.php/River. 6. Carson, L., Travel in the Ancient World. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland (1994) 7. Cater, E.A. Tourism in the Yunnan great rivers national parks system project: prospects for sustainability. Tourism Geographies 12(4) (2000), 472–489. 8. Deiminiat, Akram, Hassan ShojaeeSiuki, and Saeid Eslamian. "Tourism and River Environment.” Handbook of Engineering Hydrology 3 (2014): 401- 419.