Wildlife watching tourist activities can make an important contribution to community development and conservation, especially in developing countries, but it needs to be carefully planned and managed in order to ensure its long-term sustainability and to avoid potential adverse effects on wildlife and local communities. This report, published by UNEP and the Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), considers the socio-economic and environmental benefits that can be derived from watching wildlife tourism, including case studies from Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, the United States, Australia, Indonesia and Tanzania.

This is a comprehensive volume on the subject of wildlife tourism, written by experts in the field and drawing on a wide range of disciplines. It covers the full scope of wildlife tourism, including zoos, wildlife watching, hunting and fishing. Also includes a up to date review of the issues of wildlife tourism.

This book outlines the status quo of worldwide wildlife tourism and its impacts on planning, management, knowledge, awareness, behaviour and attitudes related to wildlife encounters. It sets out to fill the considerable gaps in our knowledge on wildlife tourism, applied ecology, and environmental education, providing comprehensive information on and an interdisciplinary approach to effective management in wildlife tourism. Examining the intricacies, challenges, and lessons learned in a meaningful and rewarding tourism niche, this interdisciplinary book comprehensively examines the major potentials and controversies in the wildlife tourism industry. Pursuing an insightful, provocative and hands-on approach, it primarily addresses two questions: ‘Can we reconcile the needs of the wildlife tourism industry, biodiversity conservation, ecological learning and animal ethics issues?’ and ‘What is the Future of the Wildlife Tourism Industry?’. Though primaril y intended as a research text, it also offers a valuable resource for a broad readership, which includes university and training students, researchers, scholars, tourism practitioners and professionals, planners and managers, as well as the staff of government agencies.

This book is a landmark contribution to the rapidly growing field of wildlife tourism, especially in regard to its underpinning foundations of science, conservation and policy. Written by a number of environmental and biological scientists it explains the synergy between wildlife and tourism by drawing on their global experiences.

Wildlife tourism is a growing multimillion-dollar industry within the hospitality and tourism industry. Wildlife tourism, in its simplest sense, is the creation of tour packages for watching wild animals in their natural habitats, and is particularly important in African and South American countries, Australia, India, Canada, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Maldives, among others. This new book brings together the best voices in the field of wildlife tourism and provides a key understanding of wildlife tourism. It explores many important aspects of wildlife to date with related implications for various sectors, such as technology, education, corporations, and policymaking.

"Experiences have become the hottest commodities the market has to offer. No matter where we turn, we are constantly inundated by advertisements promoting products that promise to provide us with some ephemeral experience that is newer, better, more thrilling, more genuine, more flexible, or more fun than anything we have previously encountered. In turn, consumers themselves are increasingly willing to go to great lengths, invest large sums of money, and take great risks to avoid "the beaten track" and "experience something new."" "Working with an interdisciplinary approach, this book critically analyzes the significance this market for experiences (and interest in them) is having as a generative motor of cultural and socioeconomic change in modern society."--Jacket.

This book critically examines the many ways in which tourism and animals intersect, whether as tourist attractions, wildlife conservation tools, as travel companions or as meat to be eaten. It aims to make a meaningful contribution to the growing body of knowledge concerning the relationships between animals, tourists and the tourism industry. The chapters are organised into three themes: ethics and welfare; conflict, contradiction and contestation; and shifting relationships. Theoretically informed and empirically rich, the chapters examine topics such as whale watching, animal performances, the objectification and commodification of animals and stakeholder conflict among a range of others. It is hoped that the book will help to highlight key research questions and stimulate other researchers and students to reflect critically on the place of animals within tourism spaces, experiences, practices and structures.