Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between water transportation attributes, tourist satisfaction, and response behaviour towards Sundarbans tourism. Water transportation is a crucial factor that has a direct effect on the tourism industry's rapid growth. Water transport presently accommodates a large number of tourists worldwide, particularly in Bangladesh's Sundarbans. While providing travellers with amenities, the quality of water transportation elicits a variety of responses regarding its benefits and drawbacks. Design/methodology/approach: This study was carried out in the Sundarbans, a popular tourist destination. The questionnaires were collected online using Google Forms and distributed to 400 Sundarbans-related Facebook group members. A linear and multiple regression data analysis was performed using the SPSS application (version 26).
Findings: The results found that water transport attributes have a substantial effect on tourist satisfaction and response behaviour. Tourist satisfaction is acting as a mediator between water transport attributes and response behaviour in the Sundarbans. The study's findings suggested that in order to attract tourists to the Sundarbans as well as obtain tourist satisfaction and positive response behaviour, correct utilisation of water transport attributes is required. Originality/value: This study contributes to the development of the water transportation sector of tourism, especially in the Sundarbans, and provides an opportunity for future researchers to expand the context of the research framework in other tourism destination settings.
Abou-Zeid, M., & Fujii, S. (2016). Travel satisfaction effects of changes in public transport usage. Transportation, 43(2), 301-314.
Amin, M. R. (2018). Sustainable Tourism Development in Sundarbans, Bangladesh (A World Heritage Site): Issues and Actions. Journal of Business, 39(2).
Ayob, N. M., & Masroni, T. (2014). Issues of safety and security: new challenging to Malaysia tourism industry. Paper presented at the SHS Web of Conferences.
Bangladesh, S. (2020). Sundarbans. Retrieved from:https://www.spotlightbd.com/visit-bangladesh/sundarbans/
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173.
Becken, S. (2014). Water equity–Contrasting tourism water use with that of the local community. Water resources and industry, 7, 9-22.
Cook, S. (2020). 7 Top Sundarban Tour Operators and Packages. Retrieved from https://www.tripsavvy.com/top-sundarban-tour-operators-and-packages-1539452
Chow, I., & Murphy, P. (2008). Travel activity preferences of Chinese outbound tourists for overseas destinations. Journal of Hospitality & Leisure Marketing, 16(1-2), 61-80.
Devesa, M., Laguna, M., & Palacios, A. (2010). The role of motivation in visitor satisfaction: Empirical evidence in rural tourism. Tourism management, 31(4), 547-552.
Di Pietro, L., Di Virgilio, F., & Pantano, E. (2012). Social network for the choice of tourist destination: attitude and behavioural intention. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology.
Febriansyah, F., Febriani, M., & Agustini, E. (2020). Maritime Safety and Security Policies to Support Marine Transportation Systems. Inland Waterways Journal, 2(1), 46-56.
Han, J. H., Lee, M. J., & Hwang, Y.-S. (2016). Tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior in response to climate change and tourist experiences in nature-based tourism. Sustainability, 8(7), 644.
Haque, M., Reza, M., Alam, M., Ahmed, Z. U., & Islam, M. (2016). Discovery of a potential site for community-based sustainable ecotourism in the Sundarbans Reserve forests, Bangladesh. Wasiul, Discovery of a Potential Site for Community-Based Sustainable Ecotourism in the Sundarbans Reserve Forests, Bangladesh, 553-566.
Hasan, R. (2020). Best things to do in Sundarbans. Retrieved from https://nijhoom.com/sundarbans/
Hasegawa, K. (2008). Some safety issues involving inland water passenger transports in Bangladesh. Annual Report of FY 2007, The Core University Program between Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), 249-258.
He, X., & Luo, J. M. (2020). Relationship among Travel Motivation, Satisfaction and Revisit Intention of Skiers: A Case Study on the Tourists of Urumqi Silk Road Ski Resort. Administrative Sciences, 10(3), 56.
Hoque, M. A., Ara, E., & Shoeb-Ur-Rahman, M. (2018). Forest-based tourism in Bangladesh: Challenges unveiled for the Sundarbans. Forest, 10(36), 97-107.
Hornell, J. (2015). Water transport, Cambridge University Press.
Horner, S., & Swarbrooke, J. (2016). Consumer behaviour in tourism, Routledge.
Hossain, M. S., Chowdhury, M. S., & Lipy, N. S. (2016). Exploratory Analysis Of Tourists’satisfaction Level On Tourism Goods And Services Of Kuakata And Sundarbans, Bangladesh.
Iamtrakul, P., & Wongbumru, T. (2019). Exploring eco-friendly travel towards sustainable water transport in Bangkok. Paper presented at the IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science.
Jelin?i?, D. A. (2019). Creating experiences in cultural tourism: From sightseeing to engaged emotional action. In Creating and managing experiences in cultural tourism (pp. 3-16): World Scientific.
Juvan, E., Omerzel, D. G., & Maravi?, M. U. (2017). Tourist behaviour: An overview of models to date. Paper presented at the Management International Conference.
Kang, M., & Moscardo, G. (2006). Exploring cross-cultural differences in attitudes towards responsible tourist behaviour: A comparison of Korean, British and Australian tourists. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 11(4), 303-320.
Kanjilal, B., Mazumdar, P. G., Mukherjee, M., Mondal, S., Barman, D., Singh, S., & Mandal, A. (2010). Health care in the Sundarbans (India): Challenges and plan for a better future. In: Institute of Health Management Research Jaipur and Kolkata.
Kawanaka, S., Matsuda, Y., Suwa, H., Fujimoto, M., Arakawa, Y., & Yasumoto, K. (2020). Gamified Participatory Sensing in Tourism: An Experimental Study of the Effects on Tourist Behavior and Satisfaction. Smart Cities, 3(3), 736-757.
Kim, J.-H., Ritchie, J. B., & McCormick, B. (2012). Development of a scale to measure memorable tourism experiences. Journal of Travel Research, 51(1), 12-25.
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining Sample Size for Research Activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607-610. doi:10.1177/001316447003000308
Lal Mukherjee, A. (2019). Impact of tourism in coastal areas: Need of sustainable tourism strategy. Retrieved from http://www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/Impact_of_tourism_in_coastal_areas:_Need_of_sustainable_tourism_strategy
Le-Klaehn, D.-T., Gerike, R., & Hall, C. M. (2014). Visitor users vs. non-users of public transport: The case of Munich, Germany. Journal of destination marketing & management, 3(3), 152-161.
Le-Klaehn, D.-T., & Hall, C. M. (2015). Tourist use of public transport at destinations–a review. Current Issues in Tourism, 18(8), 785-803.
Li, Q. (2013). A novel Likert scale based on fuzzy sets theory. Expert Systems with Applications, 40(5), 1609-1618.
Liu, P., Zhang, H., Zhang, J., Sun, Y., & Qiu, M. (2019). Spatial-temporal response patterns of tourist flow under impulse pre-trip information search: From online to arrival. Tourism management, 73, 105-114.
Manzo, G. G. (2019). The Economic Impact Of Travel & Tourism Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2019 World, 1-14. Retrieved from https://www.slovenia.info/uploads/dokumenti/raziskave/raziskave/world2019.pdf
Matveevskaya, A. S., Pogodina, V. L., Tarakanova, T. S., Evseev, V. V., & Nesterova, I. E. (2018). Technologies of tourism in the modern urban environment. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET), 9(10), 1566-1574.
Michael, T. (2019). Are passenger attitudes toward water transit different that other public transport? Retrieved from https://www.kth.se/profile/tanko/page/are-passenger-attitudes-toward-water-transit-different-that-other-public-transport
Mihart, C. (2012). Impact of integrated marketing communication on consumer behaviour: Effects on consumer decision-making process. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 4(2), 121.
Mondal, B. K., & Bhaduri, S. (2013). Role of Rural Transport to Infrastructural Development of Indian Sundarbans. Geographical Review of India, 75(4), 397-411.
Murphy, P., Pritchard, M. P., & Smith, B. (2000). The destination product and its impact on traveller perceptions. Tourism management, 21(1), 43-52.
Mutedi, A. (2019). Rancang Bangun Aplikasi Booking Kapal untuk Berwisata & Memancing Berbasis Android. Jurnal Teknologi Informasi dan Multimedia, 1(3), 213-220.
Netto, A. P. (2009). What is tourism? Definitions, theoretical phases and principles. Philosophical Issues In Tourism, 37, 43-62.
NOTES, T. (2018). Tourism Transportation. Retrieved from https://tourismnotes.com/tourism-transportation/
Özfirat, P. M., Özfirat, M. K., & Malli, T. (2018). Selection of coal transportation mode from the open pit mine to the thermic power plant using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process. Transport, 33(2), 502–509-502–509.
Park, S. N. (2015). Best Time To Visit Sunderbans National Park. Retrieved from https://www.sunderbans-national-park.com/best-time-to-visit-sunderbans.php
Paul, B., & Rashid, H. (2016). Climatic hazards in coastal Bangladesh: non-structural and structural solutions: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Pearce, D. G. (2001). Tourism, trams and local government policy-making in Christchurch, New Zealand. Current Issues in Tourism, 4(2-4), 331-354.
Planet, L. (2020). Sundarbans River Cruise. Retrieved from https://www.lonelyplanet.com/bangladesh/tours/sundarbans-river-cruise/a/pa-tou/v-126841P2/355768
Probha, N. A., & Hoque, M. S. (2018). A Study on Transport Safety Perspectives in Bangladesh through Comparative Analysis of Roadway, Railway and Waterway Accidents. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Asia-Pacific Conference on Intelligent Medical 2018 & International Conference on Transportation and Traffic Engineering 2018.
Project, M. (2018). The role of water transportation in the tourism industry. Retrieved from https://www.modishproject.com/water-transportation-tourism-industry/
Rachael. (2019). 9 ways to step out of your comfort zone while traveling. Retrieved from https://www.worldpackers.com/articles/ways-to-step-out-of-your-comfort-zone-while-traveling
Sankrusme, S. (2017). Potential development strategies on marine and beach tourism: Anchor Academic Publishing.
Sarker, A., Røskaft, E., Ma-Suza, M., & Nobi, M. N. (2017). Perceptions of the Quality of Nature-Based Tourism in Sundarban in Local and Foreign Visitors: A Case Study from Karamjal, Mongla. Environment and Natural Resources Research, 7(1), 1-10.
Shah, S. A. (2012). Tourism and lake sustainability: A case study of Dal Lake. International Journal of Environmental Sciences, 1(4), 230-234.
UNESCO. (2020). The Sundarbans. Retrieved from https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/798/
Van Vuuren, C., & Slabbert, E. (2012). Travel motivations and behaviour of tourists to a South African resort. Tourism & Management Studies, 295-304.
Virkar, A. R., & Mallya, P. D. (2018). A review of dimensions of tourism transport affecting tourist satisfaction. Indian Journal of Commerce & Management Studies, 9(1), 72-80.
Zainuddin, Z., Zahari, M. S. M., Radzi, S. M., Hanafiah, M. H. M., & Ishak, N. (2018). Tourism images and the international tourists response behaviour: A case of Langkawi Island, Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(16), 60-82.
Zhang, H., Wu, Y., & Buhalis, D. (2018). A model of perceived image, memorable tourism experiences and revisit intention. Journal of destination marketing & management, 8, 326-336.
