Community-based tourism and women’s micro-entrepreneurship in the Haor Basin of Bangladesh: Navigating empowerment, gendered barriers, and ecological vulnerability

This study examines how community-based tourism (CBT) shapes women’s micro-entrepreneurship in the Haor Basin of Bangladesh, a seasonally flooded wetland ecosystem where ecological fragility intersects with entrenched gender inequalities. A qualitative design was used, with semi-structured interviews of 20 purposively selected participants across three Haor Basin villages. A six-phase thematic analysis framework was applied to the data using NVivo software. Four interrelated themes were identified: entrepreneurial journeys enabled by CBT; gendered obstacles to business expansion; environmental and structural obstacles; and ambitions, agency, and social credit. CBT partially empowers by diversifying income and expanding household decision-making, but women’s entrepreneurial careers are constrained by mobility limitations, financial marginalization, household care responsibilities, and seasonal floods. The study’s results suggest women-specific financial products, year-round institutional support, and climate-resilient infrastructure. This research has developed a situational conceptual model that can be applied in climate-sensitive CBT environments worldwide.