Will Whale Watchers Sacrifice Personal Experience to Minimize Harm to Whales?

Abstract

Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) watchers off Sydney, Australia were surveyed using stated preference techniques to investigate whether they were prepared to prioritize minimizing impact on whales over other factors of their whale-watching experience. Differences between shore- and boat-based whale watchers (343 and 1,133 participants, respectively) to hypothetical whale-watching situations were investigated. Both groups had a strong preference for minimizing impact on the animals. Boat-based whale watchers placed a slightly higher priority on receiving environmental education. Both groups expressed a preference for approaching closer to the whales than currently permitted (i.e., to 50 m), but the high levels of satisfaction of boat-based whale watchers suggest closer approach distances are not necessary to ensure a positive whale-watching experience.

Evaluation of crowding and tourist satisfaction in the practice of humpback whale - watching, the case of Puerto López - Ecuador

“…In this sense, the influence of aspects such as age, accompaniment, nationality and motivations, on perceived crowding of boats has been demostrated. In addition, this study finds that motivations with greater importance for tourist surveyed have been confirmed in other studies, such as: information provided by the crew (Filby et al 2015;Sitar et al 2017), environmental commitment (Shapiro 2006), maritime transport (Orams 2000), security (Buultjens et al 2016), and proximity of whales (Kessler et al 2014).…”

“…Attributes that have a close relationship with tourist satisfaction in cetaceans sighting have been studied previously such as: quantity and behavior of the observed individuals, number of passengers, duration of the trip, characteristics of the boat and dizziness due to sea movement (Orams 2000); minimum impact on marine fauna, learning and contemplation of marine fauna (Shapiro 2006); educational-interpretive component (Lück 2003;Shapiro 2006;Kessler et al 2014;Sitar et al 2017); observation time, swim time, number of people in the water, space available on the boat, sea conditions during the tour, rules to follow and information provided (Filby et al 2015); tour price and friendly environment (Bentz et al 2016a). In addition, Orams (2000), Kessler et al (2014) and García & Pacheco (2017) suggest that satisfaction is not related to the proximity of whales; instead they refer a relationship with the visitor's own safety in terms of keeping a safe distance to whales.…”

Whale‐watching trips in Peru lead to increases in tourist knowledge, pro‐conservation intentions and tourist concern for the impacts of whale‐watching on humpback whales

“…Therefore, whale‐watching may represent a complementary way to learn about cetacean conservation and ecosystems, at least in the short term. Education and learning on whale‐watching trips plays an important role in customer satisfaction (Bierman, ; Draheim et al, ; Forestell, ; Kessler, Harcourt, & Bradford, ; Lück, ; Neil, Orams, & Baglioni, ; Orams, ; Reid, ; Roggenbuck, Loomis, & Dagostino, ; Shapiro, ). The semantic network analysis showed that participants were satisfied with their whale‐watching experience.…”

“…It is often assumed that proximity to the whales is related with customer satisfaction, and whale‐watching vessels try to get as close to the whale as possible to satisfy their clients (Duffus, ; Kessler et al, ; Muloin, ; Orams, ; Shapiro, ), even though studies suggest that tourists are often satisfied even if they do not approach animals closely. Several studies have found that tourist satisfaction is greatest when they know that their operators are following proper navigation guidelines, avoiding harm to their target species, whilst being educated about the animals they are watching (Draheim et al, ; Kessler et al, ; Lück, ; Orams, ; Reid, ; Shapiro, ). The results of this study suggest that people's satisfaction is not related with whale proximity, instead, people's satisfaction was related with their own safety in terms of keeping a prudent distance from the whale, and learning about marine conservation.…”

Design tourist planning in Colombian lagged destination: Case study Bahía Solano

“…We detected the local institutional deficiencies to handle the tourism boom and general lack of developed infrastructure for underpinning stable tourism growth. From the public policy point of view, huge efforts must be implemented: effective integration with the whole country, the redistribution of tourism rents in favor of local inhabitants, preservation of natural environment amid whales and sea (Kessler, Harcourt, & Bradford, 2014), and a progressive local taxation development.…”