Bat-watching tourism increases urban tourists' learning experience, conservation willingness, and its relevance to bat management in the Philippines

Wildlife-watching and ecotourism are effective approaches for improving public attitudes and raising awareness of wildlife conservation. However, the ability of education programs or ecotourism experiences to enhance conservation of less appealing taxa such as bats has rarely been examined. Using pre and post-visit surveys, we sought to (a) explore the potential of bat-watching to raise tourists' knowledge, attitudes towards bats, and determine how perceptions vary across demographic classes; and (b) elucidate predictors of conservation willingness among sampled tourists. We sampled a total 197 tourists in Monfort Bat Cave Sanctuary in the Philippines. Our study found a significant increase in conservation willingness from 45% to 61% (+ 16%) after the visit. Conservation willingness was associated with age group, prior knowledge of bat ecosystem services, and perceptions about the conservation relevance of bat-watching as a conservation initiative. Our study highlights the effectiveness of short-term engagements such as bat-watching at improving human-bat interactions, and suggests such programs should focus on highlighting ecosystem services and benefits of bats. However, it should be noted that we performed this study before the COVID-19 global pandemic and misinformation linking bats to the disease spread has increased since. We expect that public perception will change in the post-COVID-19 period and the conservation willingness survey should be repeated to understand how to counter misconceptions to develop effective bat conservation management in the post-COVID-19. Key Messages: Bats are important taxa playing key roles in the ecosystem, yet often receives less conservation attention. Here we report the potential role of wildlife-watching ecotourism to raise conservation willingness towards a least charismatic species such as bats. The results of our findings will inform better framing of conservation measures to effectively protect species and their ecosystem services.