Duck tour

Duck tours, or DUKW tours, are tours that take place on purpose-built amphibious tour buses or military surplus DUKWs and LARC-Vs.

Duck tours are primarily offered as tourist attractions in harbor, river and lake cities, such as Austin, Baltimore, Belfast, Boston and Barnstable, Massachusetts, Branson, Chattanooga, Cincinnati-Newport, Dublin, Halifax, Hot Springs, Arkansas, London, Malacca, Malaysia, Miami, Osaka, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Maine, Qingdao, Rotorua, San Francisco, Seattle, Singapore, South Lake Tahoe, Stone Mountain, Georgia, Toronto, Washington, DC, and Wisconsin Dells. Since 2010 and 2011 respectively two modern touring car buses (coaches) operate amphibious bus and boat services in Budapest, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and since 2013 in Lisbon, Portugal. In Brazil, the first Duck Tour was launched in Rio de Janeiro on 01/02/2014 by Duck Tour Brasil.

Origin
The first "duck tour" company was started in 1946 by Mel Flath and Bob Unger in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. Flath's company has changed ownership since, but is still in operation under the name Original Wisconsin Ducks. His family continues to operate a duck company called the Dells Army Ducks in the Wisconsin Dells Area.

Regional
DUKWs operated by Boston Duck Tours have been used since 2004 for "rolling rallies" to celebrate sports championships by local sports teams. The Boston Celtics celebrated their 2008 championship, the New England Patriots celebrated their championships and the Boston Red Sox celebrated their 2004, 2007, and 2013 World Series victories with a parade of 17 DUKWs carrying members of the team over land and across the Charles River. The Boston Bruins also celebrated their 2011 Stanley Cup title with a duck boat parade.

The Seafair Pirates in Seattle use a DUKW "Moby Duck" modified to look like a Spanish Galleon as their primary means of amphibious transport.

Liverpool's 'Yellow Duckmarine' tours (as at June 2013) had 4 DUKWs, of which one saw service in the D-day landings. These are no longer operating due to the liquidation of the company.

Viking Splash Tours in Dublin operate 6 Dukws in Dublin City using a Viking theme as a basis for the tour encouraging passengers to wear Viking helmets and 'raid' the city by roaring at 'the Celts'.

There is also a Duck offering rides at Instow in Devon. It was built on Jersey in 1998 and operated as a ferry taking passengers to Elizabeth Castle until 2006. The operator in Jersey had three – the other two have gone to Krakow and Berlin.

Almost all have since been repainted, and given modern diesel engines and some have enclosed tops, making them more resemble conventional buses. Others are warm-weather only, open-air vehicles, with an optional canopy. Most require a bus-type Public Service Vehicle license and a passenger-use boat license.

In Australia at the RainForeStation nature park at Kuranda in Queensland a fleet of DUKWs are used to take visitors through a typical rain forest environment. The DUKWs travel along a tight twisty track through the forest before entering a small lake where their amphibious capabilities are demonstrated.

Non-fatal incidents
In 2010 a bearing collapsed on a DUKW belonging to The Yellow Duckmarine which resulted in four passengers, including an 80-year old person, being taken to hospital with injuries.

On 30 March 2013 a duck boat of The Yellow Duckmarine in Liverpool sank in the city's Salthouse Dock during a tour. All passengers were safely transferred to a pontoon before the vehicle began to sink. In June 2013 another duck boat, operated by the same company, sank in the Albert Dock as it came to the end of a tour of Liverpool. Passengers were forced to jump into the water as the vehicle rapidly took on water. Some were rescued by vessels while others swam to the side of the dock. Out of the 31 people on board, 27 were treated in hospital for minor injuries. The incident resulted in the Maritime and Coastguard Agency withdrawing all safety certificates for the craft owned by Pearlwild and their entering administration. Pearlwild are also under investigation by the North West Traffic Commissioner over the operation of the Duckmarines during 2012.

On 29 September 2013 a duck boat on the River Thames in London caught fire. Thirty people were rescued, a number of them after having jumped into the River Thames to escape the fire.

Trademark
The phrase "duck tour" and the duck cartoon have been deemed generic and not trademark-able by the First Circuit in the United States.