Hilsha tourism in Padma and its future

prospects: a case of Chandpur

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Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................1

Literature Review...............................................................................................................2

Methodology......................................................................................................................3

Challenges.........................................................................................................................4

Conclusion.........................................................................................................................5

References.........................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Recreational fishing trips constitute a significant part of the tourism business in many
countries. Linking fisheries to tourism can be both a response to the need to create
innovative tourism products and the need to find new sources of income for fisheries to
make them more profitable and sustainable. Apart from being an important protein
source and supporting vital ecosystem functions, fishing also provides recreational
benefits. Many tourists are losing interest in the traditional sun, sand and sea packages
and are instead looking to experience something more actively engaging. For some,
fishing activities and exploring cultures with an ancient fishing heritage can be
significant attractions. Thus Fisheries-Based has received increasing attention in recent
years. This can involve a wide range of activities, including recreational spin-cast
fishing, excursionsin professional fishing vessels, learning from locals about alternative
fishing methods and fishing gear, game fishing and discovering exotic marine
environments and their biodiversity. So we come up with the idea to develop a fisheries
based tourism specifically Hilas Tourism in Chandpur which is popularly known as the
city of Hilsa in Bangladesh.

Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) is the single largest fishery of Bangladesh. It is the national fish
of the country and it makes a huge contribution to the national economy and
employment (Haldar, 2001). A Bengali proverb is “Macher raja Ilish” which means “Hilsa
is the king of fish” (Sarker et al., 2016). Hilsa has secured recognition as the second
geographical indication (GI) product of Bangladesh (“Hilsa recognised Bangladesh’s,”
2017). The fame of Hilsa of Padma-Meghna River in Chandpur district is worldwide.
Hilsa exploited from different rivers in different regions of the country are landed in
plenty at Chandpur Fish Landing Center. Because of both tastiness and nutritional
quality of Hilsa egg, the demand of Hilsa egg is good both in the country and abroad.
Hilsa eggs are collected from Chandpur, and then transported to Chattagram and from
there exported to abroad.

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In this paper we will describe Hilas tourism in chandpur and also focus on the
motivation and activity of tourist what they want. Opportunities and challenges are
also be described here about this kind of tourism.

Aims of this research

The aim of this research is to implement the rural tourism in Chandpur as the Hilsha
Tourism

Objectives of this research

The objectives of this research project are given below:

 To analyse the Chandpur as a tourism destination for future prospects

 To evaluate the Hilsha Tourism in Chandpur
 To implement the Hilsha Tourism in Chandpur within few months

Literature Review
In rural area, tourism is now becoming more popular in Bangladesh. Especially, river
tourism, farming tourism, fishing tourism, Hilsha Tourism, Poultry Tourism and others
are including in the rural tourism section. So about rural tourism and particularly Hilsha
tourism are researched and documented by many authors and writers, publications,
journals and website written reports.

According to Dhaka Tribune, Bangladesh is blessed with Hilsha which can be used for
tourism sector. Actually in this journal one article was published which was “Ban on
Fishing Ilish lifted” In this article Chandpur was seen as motherland of Hilsha so this
land can be future tourism destination based on Hilsha catching, marketing and eating
(Dhaka Tribune, 2019). Marine Policy, Economic incentives for sustainable hilsa fishing
in Chandpur; An analysis of the legal and institutional framework was included, is a
marine tourism book. This article was published in 2016 by Islam and Mohammad Ali.
The Independent newspapers published an article which is “22-day Hilsa fishing ban
from Sunday” Actually this article mentioned about the anti-fishing for Hilsha before 22
days of them in Padma (The Independent, 2019).
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According to Dr. Rashedul Islam professor, Department of Tourism and Hospitality
Management, University of Dhaka, Chandpur will become the tourism place of Hilsha.
He noticed in 2018 and this article was published in Porjotonia Online Portal (Porjotonia,
2019). Alamy is the most popular websites for photos and videos of natural views where
the Hilsha Photos and the Padma River Photos were published and posted in their
Pages and Blogs where Padma Hilsa Stock Photos & Padma Hilsa Stock Images this
article was documented (Alamy, 2019). Besides Chandpur is the famous place in
Bangladesg where three rivers are going together and Hilsha Fishing is best popular.

Hospit wrote an article in the journal of tourism and hospitality management about
Hilsha Tourism where he mentioned about Chandpur and he also said that it will be
future destination for hilsha Tourism.

Methodology
For the purpose of writing this paper we have reviewed and analyses qualitative
research method. This is mainly developed through secondary and primary data.

We collected primary data by visiting the destination and interviewed with tourism
stakeholders like as nongovernmental organization (NGOs), travel agencies,
environmental specialties, fisherman’s .We also discuss with tourism expert, specialist,
scholars and potential tourists.

We analyses secondary information that is available on related books and PDF files,
national journals and documentary, reports, records, publications, governmental and
non-governmental documents, published dissertations, internet, home pages, online
articles, Bangladesh Statistical Bureau reports etc related with rural and fish tourism.

Most of the information is collected from different web pages available on internet. We
had to depend on the sources of information from Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation,
WTTP, and WTO. To collect this information we have gone through literature stock
from Bangladesh statistical Bauru and other necessary documents found in other
sources, like different kinds of newspaper. After all documents collection has also been

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relied on the different kinds of internet search engines. We have done this paper mainly
from our observation and experience due to circumstance of this paper method.

We do not intend to infringe any existing copyright and we do not claim copyright over
publicly available data.

Challenges
In Bangladesh, despite the immense potential of Fishery Based Tourism there exist
several problems. During our visit to Chandpur regarding this study we had to face lots
of difficulties. The most prominent issues to be considered were the following:

 Cultural acceptance of fishery-based tourism as a source of livelihood.

 Infrastructure development for fishery-based tourism facilities.
 Inept promotional activity and lack of tourism awareness among the local people.
 Dependence on private sector action and lack of monetary support for the
project.
 Environmental pollution and unplanned development, particularly in coastal
areas.
 Security and safety provisions, for local and especially for foreign tourists.
 Lack of legislation, regulation, standards, guidelines, and safety codes
 Coordination and integration of the activities of different agencies (Government
and non-governmental, fishers, scientists, tour operators, and other
stakeholders).

As fishery based tourism is totally a new concept we don't have enough existing
research papers. Though the water based communication is farily good but the by road
communication is not so good because of the poor road constructions

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Conclusion
Concept of Hilsa Tourism is a new concept for the tourism industry in Bangladesh.
Furthermore, there are several challenges to the implementation of this concept in
Bangladesh. To foster Hilsa Tourism and to thereby generate employment in the
country and add value to the gross domestic product, the government may come
forward and develop a network of building programs that will enhance the abilities of
agencies, private sector entities such as tour operators, accommodation providers,
transport providers and local fishing communities. They must also take into
consideration the interests of local people concerning employment generation, business
opportunities, education and infrastructure development. By promoting responsible
tourism development and controlling the potential negative aspects of tourism
development, the government may begin to create a tourist‐friendly environment in
areas of Chandpur which have much to offer to visitors and holidaymakers

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References
 Dhaka Tribune. (2019). Ban on fishing Ilish lifted in Chandpur. [online] Available
at: https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/2017/04/30/ban-fishing-
ilish-lifted [Accessed 4 Feb. 2019].
 Islam, M., Mohammed, E. and Ali, L. (2016). Economic incentives for sustainable
hilsa fishing in Chandpur: An analysis of the legal and institutional framework.
Marine Policy, 68, pp.8-22.
 22-day Hilsa fishing ban from Sunday | theindependentbd.com. (2019). 22-day
Hilsa fishing ban from Sunday. [online] Available at:
http://www.theindependentbd.com/post/116572 [Accessed 4 Feb. 2019].

 Porjotonia. (2019). চাঁদপুরে গড়ে উঠতে পারে ইলিশ পর্যটন. [online] Available at:
http://www.porjotonia.com [Accessed 4 Feb. 2019].
 Alamy.com. (2019). Padma Hilsa Stock Photos & Padma Hilsa Stock Images -
Alamy. [online] Available at: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/padma-
hilsa.html [Accessed 4 Feb. 2019].
 Ware, J. and Toussaint, G. (1934). Le Dict de Padma, Padma thang yig, Ms. de
Lithang, traduit du Thibétain. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 54(3),
p.311.
 Delaoẏāra Hosena, E. (n.d.). Iliśera bāṛi Cān̐dapura. 2nd ed. Dhaka: Asm Nasim
Chowdhury, p.25.
 Hospit, J. (2017). Hilsha Tourism. Journal of Tourism & Hospitality, 06(05), p.15.
 Chowdhury, S.A. and Kasem, N., 2014. Monsoon Tourism: A New Aspiration for
Bangladesh Tourism Industry. Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Sports ISSN
(Paper), pp.2312-5187.
 Khanom, S., Shah, M.A.R. and Chaudhary, A., Towards ecotourism: issues of
current tourism practices in the Sundarban mangrove forest, Bangladesh.
 Ahmed, S., 1990. Breast feeding, weaning and infant growth in rural Chandpur,
Bangladesh. Index to Theses Accepted for Higher Degrees by the Universities of
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