Wildlife and tourism

The experiencing of wildlife by tourists has become the business of wildlife tourism (WT). Essentially, this is about increasing the probability of positive encounters with wildlife for visitors whilst protecting the wildlife resource. There is a wide range of species, habitats, methods of observing, tricks for improving the encounters, and levels of interpretation involved. Some of these are more desirable than others, both from the observer’s and/or animal’s point of view. This is a genuinely multi-disciplinary area which fulfils real human needs and can be made to both build support of conservation and provide funding for it. Both biologists and social scientists need to be involved in order to achieve research which will improve the quality of the experience from both the animals’ and visitors’ points of view.