Prospects of Tourism Entrepreneurship in West Bengal: A Study with special reference to Sunderbans

Abstract

Many rural economies like India have historical, cultural, natural, and recreational assets that can be used in developing their local tourism industry as part of an economic development strategy. In fact, the relationship between entrepreneurship and tourism can be an important indicator of a healthy and emerging rural economy like India. The state of West Bengal, in particular, is unique in terms of tourism, given the fact that it is the only state in India, which has all the three vital ingredients – sea (The Bay of Bengal), mountains (The Eastern Himalayas) and forest (The Sunderbans). Sundarbans, formerly SUNDERBUNDS, is a vast tract of forest and salt water swamp forming the lower part of the Ganges Delta, extending about 160 miles (260 km.) along the Bay of Bengal from the Hooghly River estuary in India to the Meghna River estuary in Bangladesh. There are 56 islands of various sizes and shapes in Sundarbans and these are separated from each other by a network of tidal channels, inlets and creeks, some of which act as pathways for both freshwater discharge from upland and to and fro movement of flow and ebb. (DISHA, 2006). The Sundarbans is a part of the world’s largest delta formed by the rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna. The Sundarbans is the World’s largest continuous mangrove area, covering some 10,000 kms. of land and water within the Ganges Delta, with about 38 per cent located in West Bengal, covering both the North and South 24 Parganas Districts (Vyas, 2004). It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997. Sunderbans is also regarded as largest biosphere reserve in the World. The biodiversity includes about 350 species of vascular plants, 250 fishes and 300 birds, besides numerous species of phytoplankton, fungi, bacteria, zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, molluscs, reptiles, amphibians and mammals. Species composition and community structure vary east to west, and along the hydrological and salinity gradients. Sundarbans is the habitat of many rare and endangered animals (Batagur baska, Pelochelys bibroni, Chelonia mydas), especially the Royal Bengal tiger (PantheraTigris). Hidden beauties of Sundarbans are enormous. The beauty of the deep green forests in the early morning and evening, the basking crocodiles along the margins of the creeks and inlets, the quick, delicate movements of the deer at the drinking pools, as well as the beautiful seashore and especially the desire to have a glimpse of majestic Royal Bengal Tiger will quicken the hearts of even the most world weary traveler. This surely can invoke the spirit of nature-based tourism entrepreneurial endeavours especially for providing a support for the livelihood of local citizens In this present paper an attempt has been made to explore the opportunities and suggest the path of overcoming the roadblocks in tourism entrepreneurship keeping in mind the issues of sustainability, capacity buildings, infrastructure, application of ICT, monitoring and rural heritage, promotion of indigenous arts and culture etc.