K. Rodger

Wildlife Tours in Australia: Characteristics, the Place of Science and Sustainable Futures

Wildlife tourism is one of the fastest growing tourism sectors worldwide. Across the world the number of tourists seeking close interaction with wildlife in their natural environment is growing. Understanding the interface between visitors (social) and wildlife (environmental) can make a critical contribution to the sustainability of this industry. This study examined wildlife tours in Australia. Questionnaires were posted to wildlife tour operators in Tasmania, Western Australia and Northern Territory, seeking information on the characteristics of tours, and the place of science and monitoring in their business. The results illustrate several similarities between wildlife and ecotourism, suggesting the benefits of increasing education and interpretation, both central features of ecotourism, to enhancing the sustainability of wildlife tourism. For tour operators, interactive activities included feeding, swimming with and touching wildlife, and the level of interaction was identified as high, making it imperative to better define interaction and develop species or group-specific protocols for sustainably managing these interactions. Lastly, this study showed a low level of engagement of scientists in protecting the wildlife of interest to tours. Given the centrality of science to sustainability, mechanisms for increasing this involvement particularly in impact research, through partnerships and other means, are critical for the long term sustainability of this industry.

Moving beyond visitor satisfaction to loyalty in nature-based tourism: a review and research agenda.

Nature-based tourism is increasing worldwide and with it the opportunity to engage these visitors to support and advocate for the protection of natural areas. Loyalty research over the last decade provides a platform for action. Analysing loyalty as an important focus for nature-based tourism research and then proposing a research agenda are the aims of this paper. These aims are achieved by (1) reviewing the place of satisfaction and its relationship to loyalty in nature-based tourism research; (2) analysing recent loyalty and related behavioural intentions research; and (3) proposing a research agenda to further progress loyalty research. Conducting field-based experiments to determine the influence of improving service quality on loyalty and further investigating a suite of items of varying commitment for measuring loyalty (from recommending a destination to others to volunteering to work there) are pivotal to the proposed agenda. Also central are further elaborating and testing the measurement model for loyalty, with place attachment and pursuit of benefits, such as escaping from everyday life and appreciating nature, suggested as promising antecedents to loyalty. The importance of natural areas to society warrants urgent attention to the loyalty-centred research agenda detailed in this paper.

Wildlife tourism as a common pool resource issue: enabling conditions for sustainability governance

Wildlife tourism is potentially a common pool resource (CPR) issue when the following are applicable: it is difficult to exclude tourists; their experiences are affected by others’ activities; and adverse impacts on the wildlife occur. CPRs are typified by non-excludability and subtractability. Relatively few efforts have been made to consider tourism in this way or to use the concept of CPR in tourism management schemes. This paper (1) explores the possibility of wildlife tourism being a CPR issue, (2) derives a list of enabling conditions required for the sustainability of such resources and (3) determines the applicability of the conditions through a case study. Having described the potential for wildlife tourism to be a CPR issue, the enabling conditions explored in the rest of the paper follow: the characteristics of the tourism resource system and its user groups, the associated institutional arrangements and the external environment. The application of CPR thinking to the case study, whale shark tourism in Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia, revealed the contribution of institutional arrangements, particularly those associated with the State Government, to sustainable management. The use of the enabling conditions as a tool for managing wildlife tourism is discussed.

Impacts of tourism on pinnipeds and implications for tourism management.

Pinnipeds are fin-footed marine mammals with front and hind flippers, such as seals, sea lions and walruses. The behavioural traits of pinnipeds make them appealing for tourism with viewing opportunities ranging from boat cruises, to swim-with interactions to guided onshore tours (Kirkwood et at., 2003). Tourism interest in pinnipeds is increasing in importance and involves a wide range of species utilizing islands and coastlines at various locations around the world. For example, Young (1998) reported 117 boat-based sealwatching operations involving some 500,000 visitors participating in the UK and Ireland In 1997. Kirkwood et at. (2003) note that there are some 80 pinniped tourism sites in the southern hemisphere with a yearly economic value of around US

A method for testing the effect of management interventions on the satisfaction and loyalty of national park visitors

12 million, with the Australian component comprising some 53 operators visiting 23 sites and involving around 400,000 tourists. Other important southern hemisphere locations include the Kaikoura Peninsula, New Zealand (~250.000 tourists per annum); Dulker Island, South Africa (~200,000 tourists per annum); and the Peninsula Valdez, Argentina (~150,000 tourists per annum). Pinniped tourism is also an important activity at locations in North America, the Galapagos Islands and Europe (Table 10.1). One of the most impressive pinniped breeding sites in the northern hemisphere occurs on San Miguel Island in the Channel Islands National Park and Marine Sanctuary, California, USA. Here, there are approximately 70,000 Californian sea lions (Zalophus californicus), 50,000 northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris), 5000 northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) and 1000 harbour seals (Phoca vitulina concolor) (US National Park Service, 2006). Annual tourist numbers run at 60,000 to the Marine Park waters with 30.000 tourist visits to the islands (Channel Islands National Park. 2006).

Feeding of wildlife: an acceptable practice in ecotourism?

Abstract Providing visitors with satisfying experiences is integral to park management. Research has inferred the determinants of satisfaction and loyalty through theorizing, observational studies, and statistical correlations. This article advocates randomized experiments as a complementary method for testing the causal effect of selected management interventions that change service quality on satisfaction and loyalty. An experiment using ranger presence and enhanced toilets in a West Australian national park is used to illustrate the approach. The presence of rangers caused significantly improved satisfaction with rangers, related service quality attributes, and overall satisfaction, but not loyalty. Enhancing toilets had nonsignificant impacts. These results strongly suggest the need for further visitor-focused experimental research to complement the growing body of research in national parks investigating the complex relationship among service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty.

Developing and testing an assessment framework to guide the sustainability of the marine wildlife tourism industry

Tourism based upon natural environments and wild animals is a major and expanding part of the tourism industry (Rodger et al., 2009; Mintel, 2008; UNEP, 2006). Tour operators and destinations with iconic, accessible and semi-predictable wildlife have been quick to include wildlife tourism opportunities in their marketing and product portfolios in order to differentiate destinations and add value to tourist experiences. Many forms of destination marketing are thus proliferated with images of iconic, place-specific species that signify an unspoilt environment and unique, authentic and novel tourist activities. This culminates in animals being both symbolic of place as well as being an added interest or focus. For the species and/or habitats that are in decline, wildlife tourism also affords tourists an opportunity to see iconic mega fauna whilst it still exists (Lemelin et al., 2010). Wildlife viewing can be an educational and emotional activity; therefore both affective and cognitive motives underpin and shape the tourist experience and provide several psychological benefits.

Wildlife tourism science and scientists: barriers and opportunities.

Growth in the marine wildlife tourism industry has been accompanied by concerns regarding its sustainability. This paper develops and tests a generic framework for assessing the sustainability of such ventures. The framework aims to guide the collection and collation of existing information and then use this information to identify current sustainability issues and information gaps. Development relied on a literature review and expert opinion. Testing was undertaken on whale shark tourism at Ningaloo Marine Park in north-western Australia. Evaluation of the framework suggests it has applicability (i.e. it is simple to use) and is useful, where usefulness refers to the ability to contribute to sustainable tourism management. Its reproducibility (i.e. providing consistent responses irrespective of the context) could only be determined through application to multiple case studies, a recommendation flowing from this study. The framework has at least three applications: improving existing marine wildlife tourism operations through reviewing their sustainability; developing an auditing mechanism as part of the licensing provisions for such tourism; and helping to determine the likely sustainability of proposed ventures. Overall, this framework provides an important opportunity to further develop the professionalism of the wildlife tourism sector through enhancing good practice.

Interdisciplinary ecotourism research: insights and issues for conservation biology

Wildlife tourism epitomizes many of the research and management issues confronting those working at the interface of society and natural resources. Little is currently known about this interface, especially the impacts resulting from interactions between people and the wildlife on which this industry depends. This article draws on the perceptions of wildlife scientists and managers in Australia in relation to barriers hindering these scientists from engaging in wildlife tourism science. It explores the power relationships and scientific paradigms influencing them that potentially hinder the development of research into human–wildlife interactions. A key finding was the need for wildlife tourism scientists to emphasize their affinity with the paradigmatic position of the biological sciences in their research activities. A major challenge in realizing future opportunities is achieving interdisciplinary research, where biological and social scientists collaboratively define and address concerns associated with sustainably managing wildlife tourism.

The concept of risk in nature-based tourism and recreation – A systematic literature review

A continuing interest in interdisciplinary research characterizes conservation biology. This interest is a re- sponse in large part to the increasingly complex problems facing society. Analysis of recent ecotourism research, as an in- terdisciplinary enterprise, offers insights. As such, this paper analyses two projects - the social and ecological impacts of visitors to the south-western Australian forests, and of interactions between visitors and sea lions off the west coast of Australia. Analysis centers on issues of central concern for interdisciplinary research in conservation biology: poorly de- fined terms, lack of common goals, unclear or missing conceptual framework, insufficiently explained methods, and a lack of new knowledge achieved through integration. From the reviewed studies, interdisciplinary research appeared pos- sible because the researchers used strategies from more than one discipline while adopting the paradigmatic position of ecology. Unresolved issues were how to work with potentially conflicting epistemologies and methodologies, and reward- ing interdisciplinary research.