A tour boat is a

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically found on inl ...

used, and frequently purpose-built or adapted, for

boat tour A boat tour is a short trip in a relatively small boat taken for touristic reasons, typically starting and ending in the same place, and normally of a duration less than a day. This contrasts with river cruising, yacht cruising, and ocean cru ...

s, a type of tourism frequently offered in much visited towns and cities of historic interest, that have

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface fl ...

s or a river running through it, or that lie on a coast or a lake.

Design and construction

To maximize the view outside for all (paying) passengers, a tour boat is usually constructed with a maximum amount and size of windows, possibly including a glazed roof, sometimes yielding a

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown.These ...

-like superstructure. In order to be able to pass under small, low, sometimes centuries old little bridges, over canals in historic city centers, such tour boats may have a very specific design, lying very low in the water, with passengers sometimes sitting up to their waist below the water line, as well as being short and narrow, to allow making very tight turns around canals. To minimize their burden on local residents and/or the natural environment, tour boats can be powered with silent running, zero

emissions Emission may refer to: Chemical products * Emission of air pollutants, notably: **Flue gas, gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue ** Exhaust gas, flue gas generated by fuel combustion ** Emission of greenhouse gases, which absorb and emit radi ...

electric drive. In 2004, the Netherlands Energy Research Centre, ECN, and Canal Cruises Delft researched the option of running the Delft tour bouts using hydrogen fuel cells. In Amsterdam, a 100 passenger capacity hydrogen power tour boat was taken into service in 2006.

''"Duck tour"'' amphibious truck and bus designs

A specific sub-type of tour boat is the ''duck'' ''tour'' vehicle or amphibious bus. In World War II, the United States built and deployed over 20,000

DUKW The DUKW (colloquially known as Duck) is a six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the -ton CCKW trucks used by the U.S. military during World War II and the Korean War. Designed by a partnership under military auspices of Sparkman & Step ...

2½-ton payload, 6x6 drive, amphibious trucks; and upon winning the war, many became surplus, and were left (sold or donated) in the liberated countries. In many countries these very robust vehicles were adapted, and proved very suitable in their new role of amphibious tour bus / boats.
In the Netherlands, company Amfibus has built multiple purpose-constructed amphibious tour-buses, that are propelled by pump-jets when in the water. The amfibus in Rotterdam has been in operation since 2011 for tourists, making 1,200 trips a year, carrying some 40,000 passengers.Why plans to introduce an 'amfibus' on the River Clyde sank without a trace – GlasgowLive
/ref> ENI 02332751 Splashtours I (04).JPG, Splashtours amphibious ' Amfibus' in Rotterdam 'Duck'.JPG, Duck tour in Singapore

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, boat tours are offered in many larger towns and cities with ''grachten'' and/or ''singels'' (intra-urban canals), like in Amsterdam,

Delft Delft () is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, and The Hague, to the northwest. Together with them, it is part of both the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan ...

, Leiden, Utrecht and

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

. In Maastricht a river cruise on the Meuse is offered, including to adjacent Liège in Belgium. From Rotterdam center, the Port of Rotterdam can be cruised, over the "New Meuse", now a

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributary ...

of the Rhine (river), but formerly a distributary of the Meuse (river). In 2010, boat tours through the Amsterdam Canal District hosted a record setting 3,072,000 visitors, making them the busiest

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...

in the country.Marktordening in Amsterdam (in Dutch; archived)
/ref>

Design and construction

''"Duck tour"'' amphibious truck and bus designs

Netherlands

Notes

See also