WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TOURISM

Kayla Boyesboyesk@uw.edu

“Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.” - John Muir

“The Animals of the planet are in desperate peril. Without free animal life I believe we will lose the spiritual equivalent of oxygen.” - Alice Walker

OUTLINE• Defining Wildlife Conservation Tourism

– HANS Model• BLT Model

• Advantages of Wildlife Conservation Tourism– Supports wildlife conservation– Provides meaningful /educational tourist experience– Provides economic potential for local people

• Disadvantages of Wildlife Conservation Tourism– Causes stress/harm to wildlife or critical habitat– Is not sustainable in the long run– Provides little economic potential for local people

• References

DEFINING WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TOURISM (WCT)

• WCT can overlap with many other forms of tourism and wildlife interactions.– Wildlife Tourism– Conservation

Tourism– Ecotourism– Nature-Based

Tourism– Wildlife-Based

Tourism– Adventure Tourism– Hunting/Fishing

Tourism

Reynolds and Braithwaite, 2001, p. 32

• ‘Thus wildlife tourism may be defined as an area of overlap between nature based tourism, ecotourism, consumptive use of wildlife, rural tourism, and human relations with animals’ (Reynolds and Braithwaite, 2001, p. 32).

• ‘Conservation tourism is, simply, tourism which operates as a conservation tool. More precisely, it may be defined as commercial tourism which makes and ecologically significant net positive contribution to the effective conservation of biological diversity’ (Buckley, 2010, p. 2)

• Ecotourism is ‘That form of environmentally responsible tourism that involves travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas with the object of enjoying, admiring, and studying the nature (the scenery, wild plants and animals), as well as any cultural aspect (both past and present) found in these areas, through a process which promotes conservation, has a low impact on the environment and on culture and favors the active and socioeconomically beneficial involvement of local communities’ (Ceballos-Lascurain, H., 1996, p. 20)

• ‘Nature-based tourism is primarily concerned with the direct enjoyment of some relatively undisturbed phenomenon of nature’ (Valentine, 1992, p. 108).

• ‘Wildlife-based tourism is a non-consumptive means of using wild resources to benefit human populations’ (Barnes et al., 1992, p. 136).

DEFINITIONS IN THE LITERATURE

‘Wildlife conservation tourism (WCT) can be defined as a tourist or tourists having a meaningful interaction with wildlife in a nonconsumptive manner that produces a positive net contribution toward conserving one or more species of wildlife.’ (Boyes, 2014, p. 3)

DEFINING WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TOURISM (WCT)

DEFINING WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TOURISM (WCT)• Human-Artifactual- Natural Systems (HANS) Framework

– Broker-Local-Tourist (BLT) Model

WCT

Miller et al., 2014, p.6

ADVANTAGES – SUPPORTS WILDLIFE CONSERVATION• WCT has the potential to

support the conservation of species and/or habitats financially and through the creation of tourist awareness

– Wilson and Tisdell, 2003; Buckley, 2010; Walpole and Leader-Williams, 2002, Bookbinder, 2008

ADVANTAGES – MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE FOR TOURIST

• Tourists gain some sort of desirable, enjoyable, educational, meaningful experience from interacting with wildlife– Curtin, 2010; Orams,

1997; Higginbottom, 2004; Ballantyne, 2007

ADVANTAGES – PROVIDE LOCAL ECONOMIC SUPPORT

• If properly managed, local tourism brokers and other businesses can profit from WCT – Diedrich, 2007; Walpole and

Goodwin, 2001; MacLellan 1999

‘The data indicate that, as tourism develops, it is improving the quality of life of local people.’ (Diedrich, 2007, p. 993)

DISADVANTAGES – INEFFECTIVE/ UNSUSTAINABLE FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION

• It can be argued that interactions between tourists and wildlife jeopardize the very goal of conservation. It is also debatable whether WCT will continue to be effective as a growing industry.– Green and Giese, 2004; Isaacs, 2000; Burns and

Howard, 2003

‘Although it is often assumed that wildlife tourism is environmentally friendly because wildlife tourists tend to empathize with conservation and animal welfare issues, even conservationists and animal-lovers can cause unwitting damage.’(Green and Giese, 2004, p. 81)

DISADVANTAGES – UNNECESSARY WILDLIFE/HABITAT STRESS

• Wildlife can be harassed, stressed, harmed, or even killed by tourists or tourist related activities. Even seemingly beneficial activities like feeding can alter behavior and have negative impacts.

– Orams, 2002; Green and Higginbottom, 2000; Grossberg et al., 2003

REFERENCES• Ballantyne, R., Packer, J., Hughes, K., & Dierking, L. (2007). Conservation learning in wildlife tourism

settings: Lessons from research in zoos and aquariums. Environmental Education Research, 13(3), 367–383.

• Barnes, J., Burgess, J., & Pearce, D. (1992). Wildlife tourism. Economics for the Wilds, 136–151.• Birtles, A., Valentine, P., & Curnock, M. (2001). Tourism based on free-ranging marine wildlife:

opportunities and responsibilities.• Bookbinder, M. P., Dinerstein, E., Rijal, A., Cauley, H., & Rajouria, A. (2008). Ecotourism’s support of

biodiversity conservation. Conservation Biology, 12(6), 1399–1404.• Buckley, R., & Pannell, J. (1990). Environmental impacts of tourism and recreation in national parks and

conservation reserves. Journal of Tourism Studies, 1(1), 24–32.• Burns, G. L., & Howard, P. (2003). When wildlife tourism goes wrong: a case study of stakeholder and

management issues regarding Dingoes on Fraser Island, Australia. Tourism Management, 24(6), 699–712.

• Curtin, S. (2010b). What makes for memorable wildlife encounters? Revelations from “serious” wildlife tourists. Journal of Ecotourism, 9(2), 149–168.

• Diedrich, A. (2007). The impacts of tourism on coral reef conservation awareness and support in coastal communities in Belize. Coral Reefs, 26(4), 985–996.

• Green, R., & Giese, M. (2004). Negative effects of wildlife tourism on wildlife. In K. Higginbottom (Ed.), Wildlife tourism: impacts, management and planning. Altona, Vic: Common Ground Publishing [for] CRC for Sustainable Tourism.

• Green, R. J., & Higginbottom, K. (2000). The effects of non-consumptive wildlife tourism on free-ranging wildlife: A review. Pacific Conservation Biology, 6(3), 183.

• Grossberg, R., Treves, A., & Naughton-Treves, L. (2003). The incidental ecotourist: measuring visitor impacts on endangered howler monkeys at a Belizean archaeological site. Environmental Conservation, 30(01), 40–51.

REFERENCES CONTINUED• Higginbottom, K. (Ed.). (2004). Wildlife tourism: Impacts, management and planning. Altona, Vic:

Common Ground Publishing [for] CRC for Sustainable Tourism.• Isaacs, J. C. (2000). The limited potential of ecotourism to contribute to wildlife conservation. Wildlife

Society Bulletin, 28(1), 61–69.• MacLellan, L. R. (1999). An examination of wildlife tourism as a sustainable form of tourism development

in North West Scotland. International Journal of Tourism Research, 1(5), 375–387. • Miller, M. L. (2008a). Marine wildlife tourism management: Mandates and protected area challenges. In J.

E. S. Higham & M. Luck (Eds.), Marine wildlife and tourism management: insights from the natural and social sciences (pp. 233–256). Wallingford, UK ; Cambridge, MA: CABI Pub.

• Miller, M. L., & Auyong, J. (1991). Coastal zone tourism: A potent force affecting environment and society. Marine Policy, 15(2), 75–99. doi:10.1016/0308-597X(91)90008-Y

• Orams, M. B. (1997). The effectiveness of environmental education: Can we turn tourists into’Greenies’? Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research, 3, 295–306.

• Orams, M. B. (2002). Feeding wildlife as a tourism attraction: a review of issues and impacts. Tourism Management, 23(3), 281–293.

• Reynolds, P. C., & Braithwaite, D. (2001). Towards a conceptual framework for wildlife tourism. Tourism Management, 22(1), 31–42.

• Tisdell, C., & Wilson, C. (2004). Economics of wildlife tourism. Wildlife Tourism, 145.• Walpole, M. J., & Goodwin, H. J. (2001). Local attitudes towards conservation and tourism around

Komodo National Park, Indonesia. Environmental Conservation, null(02), 160–166. • Walpole, M., & Leader-Williams, N. (2002). Tourism and flagship species in conservation. Biodiversity &

Conservation, 11(3), 543–547. • Wilson, C., & Tisdell, C. (2003). Conservation and economic benefits of wildlife-based marine tourism:

Sea turtles and whales as case studies. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 8(1), 49–58.