Blue Tourism and Bangladesh's Sustainable Blue Economy: Untapped Potential, Economic Value and Blue Carbon Synergies along the Bay of Bengal Coast

Bangladesh has made the Bay of Bengal central to its development agenda since its maritime boundaries were settled in 2012 and 2014. Yet coastal and marine tourism, about a quarter of the ocean economy, is poorly measured and weakly governed. Using secondary data, mostly published between 2015 and 2026, this paper assesses the potential, economic value and impacts of blue tourism in Bangladesh. It also asks how visitor spending could support the ecosystems the sector depends on, including mangroves that store blue carbon. The analysis combines a site-level assessment of Cox's Bazar, Saint Martin's Island, the Sundarbans and Kuakata with estimates of visitor expenditure and public revenue capture, and a SWOT synthesis. Tourism and recreation generated about US$1.55 billion of ocean-economy value in 2015. Cox's Bazar alone may receive 6–7 million domestic visits a year, implying visitor spending of roughly US$340–570 million, while international arrivals fell to 585,145 in 2025. Public revenue capture is weak. The Sundarbans earned Tk 171 (about US$1.40) in fees per visitor in 2023–24, under 4% of the price of the cheapest multi-day boat package. At Saint Martin's Island, the coral area shrank by about 70% between 1980 and 2018, mainly because of tourism and coral extraction. The government responded with a cap of 2,000 visitors a day and a nine-month closure. The paper proposes a limits-based model that pairs carrying-capacity rules with conservation fees, community benefit-sharing and blue carbon finance, and it sets out ten policy actions.