Sustainable Coastal and Maritime Tourism: A Potential Blue Economy Avenue for Bangladesh

The geographic and strategic location of Bangladesh beside the Bay of Bengal has opened up multidimensional opportunities for the development of coastal and maritime tourism (CMT). Though various legal documents and research have already detected opportunities for CMT from the perspective of Bangladesh, there is scant evidence of any systematic research on the institutional arrangements influencing the prospect of the development and promotion of CMT in Bangladesh. The status of the sociocultural, economic, environmental, and institutional perspectives on the coastal and marine zones of Bangladesh warrants an in-depth study focusing on the institutional arrangements that can support sustainable CMT in Bangladesh. Therefore, we examine the institutional arrangements to identify the prospects and challenges involved in developing sustainable CMT in Bangladesh. In particular, we appraise the existing institutions that support sustainable CMT and suggest policy guidelines to develop sustainable CMT policy and practice in Bangladesh. We also consider how sustainable CMT can potentially influence the blue economy, which can enhance poverty reduction through new job creation, biodiversity conservation, environmental pollution control, and the promotion of the sustainable use of coastal and marine natural resources. We aim to draw some useful policy guidelines for policy makers to intensify their emphasis on sustainable CMT as an avenue to promote the blue economy and facilitate better living standards for coastal zone communities

Financing sustainable coastal and maritime tourism in the blue economy of the Asia-Pacific

The coastal and marine environment is increasingly facing various challenges in the Asia-Pacific region due to multifaceted anthropogenic and natural reasons. This chapter explores the opportunities and challenges in promoting blue finance in enhancing a sustainable blue economy through the adoption of coastal and maritime tourism (CMT) in the Asia-Pacific region. Extant literature indicates various challenges in developing CMT in developing countries, including insufficient financing in this sector. Hence, this chapter aims to investigate how blue finance can promote sustainable development in developing countries. A conceptual framework is proposed, linking blue finance and sustainable development through strengthening the emerging blue economy, particularly by promoting sustainable CMT which can facilitate the conservation of the coastal and marine environment by transforming coastal communities into resilient communities. This chapter aims to draw some policy guidelines which might be useful for policymakers to focus on sustainable CMT as a means to stimulate the green economy through green finance and foster sustainable development

Sustainable Coastal and Maritime Tourism: A Potential Blue Economy Avenue for Bangladesh

Coastal and maritime tourism (CMT) is very popular in various corners of the world. It is arguably the largest component of the tourism industry as well as one of the largest wedges of the maritime economy sector (Tegar and Gurning 2018). Research has considered both coastal and maritime tourism to be among the oldest and largest segments of the tourism industry (Hall 2001; Ecorys 2013). Coastal tourism and marine tourism are interconnected as both rely on the marine environment (Vierros and De Fontaubert 2017; Tegar and Gurning 2018). These coastal and marine zones are well-known for providing specific habitats for diverse and unique biodiversity along with picturesque scenic beauty that attracts many tourists, offering the potential for CMT. This is part of blue tourism, along with some other types of sectoral development, including the exploration of offshore hydrocarbons and other natural resource extraction (Islam and Mostaque 2018; Alam 2019)

Exploring social learning as a contributor to tourism destination governance

Social learning is a participatory process designed to create shared and common understanding among actors within a social unit. This exploratory, qualitative study applies social learning theory to explore how social learning underpins the process and outcomes of tourism destination governance. This paper presents the findings of in-depth interviews undertaken with 30 participants of the governance process implemented in the Lawachara National Park, a protected area in Bangladesh. The study found that social learning led to improved interactions among previously disparate groups of protected area tourism destination stakeholders. Participants reported that the creation of a more collaborative environment through the governance process led to new opportunities to learn about the socio-economic and ecological challenges facing the protected area, as well as alternative income generation activities such as tourism. The process was also credited with positively contributing to knowledge exchange, increased awareness and a change in behaviour by a number of the stakeholder groups who had previously used the protected area as a consumptive resource

Tourism governance in protected areas: investigating the application of the adaptive co-management approach

Protected areas have become popular tourism destinations; yet these areas are often plagued by poor governance systems, particularly in developing countries. Adaptive co-management (ACM) has been advocated as one approach to improve the governance of protected areas, yet empirical evidence from developing countries is lacking. This study investigates the application of the ACM approach in two protected areas in Bangladesh which are also important nature-based tourism destinations. Using Lawachara National Park and Sundarbans East Wildlife Sanctuary as cases, this qualitative study explored the extent to which an ACM approach was able to support the achievement of key governance principles such as participation, accountability, transparency, power, rule of law, and social learning. It was found that the approach was successful in facilitating the increased participation of a broader range of stakeholder groups, and the collaboration between them. Importantly though, it was the adaptive element of ACM which was found to have made the greatest contribution to improved governance with the approach providing new opportunities for stakeholders to engage in iterative learning. This aspect was found to be of particular importance for the sustainability of the protected areas with stakeholders reporting changes attitudes and behaviour towards protected area conservation

Adaptive co-management: a novel approach to tourism destination governance?

Although tourism destination governance has been a subject of academic enquiry for some time now, in practice, governance is still a challenge for many tourism destinations around the world. Adaptive co-management (ACM) is a dynamic approach to governance whereby institutional arrangements and ecological knowledge are continually revised through a process of 'learning-by-doing'. Founded on the active participation and collaboration of diverse stakeholder groups, ACM has been used extensively in the governance of natural resource contexts and so may offer valuable synergies for tourism governance; particularly the governance of tourism in protected areas. This review paper presents a critical review and synthesis of the ACM literature, identifying synergies and opportunities for enhancing tourism governance practices in protected area contexts through an ACM approach. A conceptual framework is developed from the review that identifies principles, stages, variables and expected outcomes of the ACM approach. Future research directions for ACM in tourism are proposed that incorporate governance, social learning and multi-stakeholder engagement