Marine wildlife tours: benefits for participants.

Abstract

This chapter introduces marine wildlife tours and visitor benefits from marine wildlife encounters, then critically reviews the psychological, educational and conservation benefits of tourist participation in a range of marine wildlife experiences.

Visitors’ memories of wildlife tourism: Implications for the design of powerful interpretive experiences

“…Recent research Ballantyne, Packer, Hughes, & Dierking, 2007;Lee and Moscardo, 2005;Tisdell and Wilson, 2005;Zeppel & Muloin, 2007) confirms that wildlife tourism can have positive short-and long-term impacts on visitors' environmental learning by:  developing a respect and appreciation for wildlife and nature;  raising awareness of environmental issues;  promoting environmentally sustainable attitudes and actions; and  building tourists' capacity for the longer term adoption of sustainable living practices.…”

Visitors’ learning for environmental sustainability: Testing short- and long-term impacts of wildlife tourism experiences using structural equation modelling

“…Recent research (Ballantyne et al, 2007;Ballantyne and Packer, 2009;Lee and Moscardo, 2005;Tisdell and Wilson, 2005;Zeppel & Muloin, 2007) has begun to demonstrate the positive impacts of wildlife tourism on visitors' environmental knowledge and attitudes, by raising visitors' awareness of environmental issues, developing their respect and appreciation for wildlife and nature, and promoting environmentally sustainable attitudes and actions. However, there have been few studies that have attempted to deeply understand the causative factors that affect such changes, or to investigate these broad patterns across multiple sites and experiences (Zeppel and Muloin, 2008).…”

“…For the wildlife, the impacts are both positive and negative. The positive impacts include providing income for the ongoing protection and sustainable management of wildlife and wildlife habitats (Buckley, 2002;Fennell, 1999;Goodwin, Kent, Parker & Walpole, 1998;Wells, 1997;Wilson and Tisdell, 2001;Zeppel & Muloin, 2007); encouraging visitors to make financial and non-financial contributions to environmental causes (Powell and Ham, 2008); providing socio-economic incentives for the conservation of natural resources (Higginbottom, Northrope and Green, 2001;Schänzal and McIntosh, 2000); and influencing tourists' behaviour during their visit (Medio, Ormond & Pearson, 1997;Orams and Hill, 1998). The negative impacts on wildlife include the possibility of injury, disease, distress, disruptions to natural behaviors and breeding patterns, pollution or destruction of habitats, or even death (Ballantyne & Hughes, 2006;Constantine & Bejder, 2007;Green & Giese, 2004;Green and Higginbottom, 2001;Higginbottom, Northrope & Green, 2001;Knight and Cole, 1995;Newsome et al, 2004;Reynolds & Braithwaite, 2001;Shackley, 1996).…”

Looking for Evidence that Place of Residence Influenced Visitor Attitudes to Feeding Wild Dolphins?

“…As previously noted in this article, dolphins are charismatic animals displaying intelligence and playfulness relatable to humans, which engages with visitor emotions and contributes an important element of the human-dolphin interaction (Smith, Lee and Newsome, 2006). Motivation to visit the DDC would be strong among visitors to KB, because experiencing an emotional connection to wildlife is one of the most important psychological benefits gained from spending time in natural settings (Curtin, 2005;McIntosh and Wright, 2017;Smith et al, 2006a;Zeppel and Muloin, 2008). The DDC facilitates wild dolphin experiences that provide visitors with the opportunity to learn about wildlife, which is an important motivator for visitors to view wildlife and at the same time as providing an opportunity for connecting with nature, which may not be a common occurrence in their everyday life (DDC, 2015d).…”