Wildlife tourism refers to any tourism that involves wildlife- from swimming with dolphins to volunteering at a turtle conservation centre. The wildlife tourism industry is diverse, taking many different shapes and forms. However, the wildlife tourism industry is also very controversial and has been subject to a lot of negative media coverage in recent years.
This article explains what wildlife tourism is and the different types of wildlife tourism found around the world. It also explains why wildlife tourism is important, its advantages and disadvantages, and how wildlife tourism can be made more responsible.
What is wildlife tourism?
Put simply, wildlife tourism is tourism that involves wildlife. But the important question is, what is wildlife? And when does a wild animal stop being ‘wild’?
Most types of animal tourism involves the use of animals that are or were once living in the wild. Whether its a stray cat who was taken into a shelter, or a zoo-based rhinoceros that was rescued from poachers, unless bred in captivity, the majority of animals seen in the tourism industry come from the wild.
As such, wildlife tourism, in its broadest sense, encompasses all types of tourism that involves animals. Types of wildlife tourism can then be segregated into two categories: animals in captivity and animals in the wild.
Video: Wildlife tourism: should animals be used for entertainment?
Types of wildlife tourism
There are many different types of wildlife tourism.
Wildlife tourism is big business. The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) estimated that wildlife tourism generated US$343.6 billion in 2018- 4.4% of the global travel and tourism economy- and supported 21.8 million jobs. From safaris in Tanzania to diving on the Great Barrier Reef, there are many ways that tourists can watch wildlife and get close to animals.
The most common types of wildlife tourism around the world are outlined below, with examples.
Safaris
A safari takes place in an animal’s natural habitat. Safaris usually involve the use of a small safari vehicle and a ranger, who will drive tourists to areas where there are likely to be animals.
Safari is traditionally associated with Africa, but can also be found in other parts of the world.
Popular safari destinations: Tanzania; Kenya; South Africa
Zoos and aquariums
A zoo or an aquarium is a place where animals are kept in captivity. Standards vary enormously- some zoos have small, barren enclosures, while the best have large, naturalistic habitats and are accredited by bodies such as the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) or, in the UK, BIAZA.
Some zoos and aquariums have important research projects and breeding programmes. Many will also take on rescue animals or marine life.
Popular zoos: San Diego Zoo; Singapore Zoo; Australia zoo, London Zoo
Popular aquariums: Georgia aquarium; Marine Life Park, Sentosa, Singapore; Dubai Mall Aquarium
Farms
Many farms around the world have been commercialised to allow visitors in to see the animals. They may include feeding experiences and the opportunity to interact with the animals, such as stroking the rabbits or riding the horses.
Farms are usually small, independently owned businesses that are not famous around the world, but that are well known within the local area.
Animal rescue centres and sanctuaries
Animal rescue centres and sanctuaries are businesses who rescue animals and then care for them.
Oftentimes they will look like a zoo, and may be commercialised in a similar way. However, the funds made should be reinvested into the business, rather than taken as profit.
Popular animal rescue centres and sanctuaries: Elephant Nature Park, Thailand; Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Australia (which ended koala cuddling in 2024); Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica; The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Kenya; Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, China
Birdwatching
Birdwatching, also referred to as birding, occurs in a bird’s natural habitat. It involves watching the birds, often from a distance with the use of binoculars.
It can also involve the use of a webcam, facilitating virtual tourism.
Popular birdwatching destinations: The Gambia; The Galapagos; The Pantanal, Brazil
Whale watching
Whale watching usually occurs on tours, when tourists will be taken out to sea on a boat in search of whales. There will usually be a guide who will provide details about the whales and who is able to spot them easily through a trained eye.
Popular whale watching destinations: Australia; Iceland; South Africa; Canada
Hunting and fishing
Hunting is the practice of pursuing and capturing or killing wild animals. Many animals are hunted for enjoyment throughout the world, from deer to pigeon to bears.
Hunting can be both legal and illegal depending on where it takes place and what is being hunted.
Likewise, fishing is a popular activity around the globe. Some people fish for enjoyment and return the fish to the water once caught and others eat or sell the fish.
Popular hunting animals: Deer; pigeon; rabbit; bears
Diving
Diving is a popular form of wildlife tourism, enabling tourists to experience life beneath the sea.
Many people will undertake PADI courses or similar to enable them to dive deeper and swim further.
Popular dive sites: the Great Barrier Reef, Australia; The Red Sea, Egypt; Blue Hole, Belize, Gili Islands, Indonesia
Wildlife encounters
Many people are keen to get up close and personal with wildlife.
In the 2000s and 2010s, selfies with tiger cubs and other wild animals were hugely popular on social media. Attitudes have changed dramatically since then- in 2017 Instagram began showing warnings on posts tagged with hashtags linked to harmful wildlife selfies, and posting such photos today is likely to attract criticism.
Some types of wildlife encounters are great. Take volunteer work, for example. There are many conservation projects around the world that are desperate for volunteer tourists to help run their operations.
However, many animal encounters are not so positive. Animals may be drugged or abused to keep them calm around tourists, kept in inhumane conditions or forced to carry people all day.
Here are some of the most common wildlife encounters around the world:
Swimming with dolphins
It is possible to swim with dolphins in the wild in a handful of places around the world.
It is more common, however, to swim with dolphins that are in enclosures. These animals are taken out of their natural habitats and made to perform tricks and entertain tourists.
Where captive dolphin swims are offered: USA, Mexico, Bahamas, Portugal.
Playing with lions and tigers
There are many attractions that offer close encounters with lions and tigers, such as cub petting, walking with lions and photo opportunities.
These are dangerous animals, which immediately raises concerns. Animals in these attractions are often drugged, declawed or kept in poor conditions to ensure that they ‘perform’ for tourists. In South Africa, cub petting has been closely linked to the captive lion breeding industry, which the government announced in 2021 that it intends to end.
Where these attractions are found: Thailand, India, South Africa
Cuddling a panda
Cuddling a panda is a thing of the past . The last commercial activity that allowed tourists to cuddle and have your photograph taken with a panda stopped operations in 2018.
However, there are still plenty of opportunities to visit the famous giant pandas, most of which are in China.
Popular places to visit pandas: China
Elephant riding
Elephant riding is most commonly found in Asia. Elephants are used to carry tourists around as a leisure activity. There have been many ethical debates about this, which has resulted in a reduction of elephant rides taken around the world.
Now, many elephant organisations are trying to appeal to tourists who take a more ethical approach by transforming their organisation into an ‘elephant sanctuary’. Whilst these are sometimes genuine, with ethical practices, some are not so- they simply disguise their unethical approaches by giving themselves the title ‘sanctuary’.
Where elephant riding is still found: Thailand, Cambodia, India
Cat cafes
A cat cafe is a venue that houses a variety of cats, whilst also serving basic food and beverages. People pay an entrance fee or hourly rate to sit with the cats. Visitors can play with and stroke the cats. Cat cafes are most commonly found in Asia and are particularly popular in Japan, although you can also find them in other parts of the world.
Some cat cafes claim to be rescue centres or sanctuaries, but most operate on a for-profit business. Some do not allow young children in, for fear of them scaring or hurting the animals. Others have no such rules. A cafe is obviously not a natural place for a cat to live, and some argue that the concept is unethical.
Popular destinations with cat cafes: Japan, Thailand, South Korea
Shark cage diving
Shark cage diving is essentially underwater diving or snorkelling whilst inside a cage. A process called chumming ( baiting the sharks with minced fish) is used to lure the sharks towards the cage.
Shark cage diving can be dangerous both for the person inside the cage and for the shark. The methods are also questionable. Encouraging the sharks to behave in a way that they wouldn’t usually will lead to lasting behavioural changes, which will inevitably have a knock on effect on other marine life and the wider ecosystem.
Where shark cage diving is offered: South Africa, Mexico (Guadalupe Island), Australia
Gorilla trekking
Gorilla trekking occurs in remote areas on the African continent. The concept is quite simple- tourists go hiking in search of gorillas.
Gorilla trekking is a unique experience, and permits are expensive- a permit to trek in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park costs US$1,500, and the fees help to fund conservation and local communities. Tourists generally keep their distance and there have been few negative impacts reported.
However, there is always potential for abuse. Careful regulation and monitoring needs to remain in place to ensure that the gorillas are not tempted into certain areas with food or disturbed by the presence of trekkers.
Popular gorilla trekking destinations: Rwanda, Uganda
Monkey forests
A monkey forest is a wooded area where monkeys live. This could be the monkeys’ natural habitat, but more likely they have been placed there intentionally.
Visitors will usually pay an entrance fee. They are then free to roam around the forested area and interact with the monkeys. Some monkey forest areas are relatively natural, whereas others may have monkey shows or circuses.
It can be dangerous to visit a monkey forest. As a result of human interaction and loss of natural habitat and feeding grounds monkeys can become aggressive. It is common for them to bite tourists, which then requires the person to visit a hospital for a rabies jab.
Ostrich riding
Ostrich riding was once a popular tourist activity on ostrich farms, particularly around Oudtshoorn in South Africa. Following pressure from animal welfare groups, several of the best-known show farms stopped offering rides from around 2017.
Ostrich riding is widely regarded as unethical, because the weight of a tourist can seriously injure the bird.
Where ostrich riding was common: South Africa
Benefits of wildlife tourism
Wildlife tourism can be a great thing. There are many positive impacts of wildlife tourism including; conservation, research, breeding programmes and economic benefits.
Conservation
For many wildlife tourism businesses, conservation is their top priority. In fact, most places where the focus is conservation would rather not have any tourists come to visit at all, but it is tourists who pay the bills and allow their business to operate.
Wildlife tourism businesses can be fantastic for conservation and can raise a lot of money. These types of businesses are usually charities or trusts. They do not make a profit and their intentions are wholesome.
Research
Wildlife tourism also facilitates important research. Research can help us to further understand the animals and therefore to better cater for them, both in the wild and in captivity.
Breeding programmes
Many wildlife tourism projects have successful breeding programmes. From Siberian tigers and pandas in China to koalas in Australia to lions in Botswana, there are successful breeding programmes underway around the world.
Many of these programmes would not be able to operate without the money raised from tourists.
Economic benefits
There are many positive economic impacts of wildlife tourism.
Wildlife tourism brings tourists to a given area, and they bring money with them! They spend money on hotels, on food and on transport.
This money can then be reinvested into the economy and spent on areas such as healthcare and education.
Job creation
Another economic advantage of wildlife tourism that is worth mentioning is job creation. Whatever type of wildlife business it is, it will require staff. This helps to boost employment figures in the area as well as helping to boost the overall economic prospects resulting from wildlife tourism.
Disadvantages of wildlife tourism
Sadly, there are also many disadvantages of wildlife tourism. Whilst there is great potential for wildlife tourism to do good, many businesses are poorly managed and demonstrate unethical practices. This most commonly includes; the mistreatment of animals, introduction of disease, dangerous behaviour, changes in the animal’s behaviour and reduced breeding success.
Mistreatment of the animals
Mistreatment of animals is common, especially in developing countries.
Fortunately, there is a lot more awareness of this nowadays than there once was. Recent years have seen many laws and regulations introduced in the name of animal welfare all over the world. This has helped to reduce the mistreatment of animals in the wildlife tourism business.
Nevertheless, mistreatment does still occur and it is pretty common. There are still circuses that use animals and attractions that make animals perform tricks for tourists. From elephant camps in Thailand to monkeys dressed as babies in Morocco, there are many examples of mistreatment around the world.
Introduction of disease
The COVID-19 pandemic showed how diseases can pass from animals to humans- and this also works the other way around.
When tourists are allowed to have close interaction with animals there is a risk of them passing on illnesses that the animals do not have immunity to. A common cold might not be a big deal for a human, but it could kill a lion cub, for example.
Many of the people who work in animal tourism are not trained in this field and could unintentionally introduce disease either to humans or to the animals that they are working with.
Wild animals can be dangerous
Animals are unpredictable and can be dangerous. Elephants can easily trample people, sharks can bite and monkeys can give a person rabies.
Changes in animal behaviour
Using animals in a tourism setting can have serious implications for its welfare and wellbeing.
Animals kept in cages and only let out to perform tricks often develop abnormal, stressed behaviours.
These behavioural changes can be unpredictable and dangerous, for both the tourist and the animal.
Reduced breeding success
When animals are taken away from their usual habitat and exposed to tourists they may have trouble breeding.
For businesses that claim to be conservation centres, this can actually have the opposite effect. Instead of protecting the species it can accelerate its decline.
Responsible wildlife tourism
The moral of the story here is this- wildlife tourism can be great, but it needs great management. When wildlife tourism is bad, it is very bad.
Wildlife tourism businesses need to operate under sustainable tourism practices. In recent years many wildlife tourism organisations change their practices. This is perhaps most common in Thailand, where many elephant riding companies have become sanctuaries.
But it’s not just down to businesses- tourists have a role to play too. Here are some of the things that tourists can do to support responsible wildlife tourism.
Do your research before you go
This is sometimes easier said than done, because there isn’t always a great deal of information available about every wildlife tourism attraction. Nonetheless, it is always worth researching the place that you are considering visiting before you do so.
Major attractions will usually have reviews on Tripadvisor and other review sites, which often reveal mistreatment. Tripadvisor itself stopped selling tickets to attractions where tourists come into physical contact with captive wild animals in 2016, and to attractions that breed or import whales and dolphins for entertainment in 2019.
If the reviews are bad, it is best not to go. Cuddling a lion cub might seem appealing, but it is important to think about the bigger picture.
Don’t get too close
Getting too close to animals can have a number of negative impacts. It can scare the animals, it can cause changes to their behaviour, it can cause them to stop breeding or relocate to an area that is less safe. It can also be dangerous.
It is important to be sensible and keep a safe distance from animals.
Sanctuaries and rescue centres are better than zoos
For tourists who want an animal experience, it is usually better to choose to visit a sanctuary or research centre rather than a zoo. From the outside, the differences might not be that obvious, but from the inside the differences are big.
The treatment of the animals should be better, to start with. Plus sanctuaries have underlying motives that are not about making money. They are there to protect, rehabilitate and conserve the species, not to exploit it. For these types of organisations, allowing visitors is a means of making enough money to support the conservation project, not a way to get rich at the expense of the animals.
Beware, however. Some places label themselves as sanctuaries, when there is in reality little conservation involved. It is simply cover up for their less altruistic intentions. This is why research is important.
Don’t mess with nature
Let nature be nature. Don’t put clothes on animals, don’t feed them and don’t interfere with them.
All of these things lead to instant and progressive changes in animal behaviours. The wildlife that you are seeing today will not be the same in 10, 20 or 30 years if people keep interfering with it.
Animal souvenirs
Tourists should be mindful of the souvenirs they buy. Some souvenirs are made from ivory, coral, turtle shell or animal fur, which may have involved the death of an animal- and many are illegal to bring home under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Eat carefully
There’re also a number of destinations that use wildlife in their food and drink.
In some countries, for example, drinks made with snakes or snake blood are sold to tourists, often involving animal cruelty.
Shark fin soup is still served in parts of Asia, contributing to the decline of many shark species, and in Iceland whale meat and puffin have been sold to tourists. Avoiding dishes made from threatened species is an easy way to support conservation.
Raise awareness about wildlife tourism
One of the most important things tourists can do is raise awareness.
Writing positive reviews of wildlife attractions that are doing a great job, and recommending them to friends, helps to support their work.
Likewise, tourists who see an attraction operating unethically can report it and share their concerns, particularly in the case of smaller, lesser-known attractions that may not yet have many reviews.
Wildlife tourism: FAQs
Below are answers to some of the most common questions about wildlife tourism.
What is wildlife tourism?
Wildlife tourism is any tourism that involves watching or interacting with animals, either in the wild (such as safaris, whale watching and birdwatching) or in captivity (such as zoos, aquariums and sanctuaries).
How big is the wildlife tourism industry?
The World Travel & Tourism Council estimated that wildlife tourism generated US$343.6 billion in 2018, around 4.4% of the global travel and tourism economy, and supported 21.8 million jobs.
What are the benefits of wildlife tourism?
Well-managed wildlife tourism can fund conservation, support research and breeding programmes, create jobs and income for local communities, and give people a reason to protect natural habitats.
What are the negative impacts of wildlife tourism?
Negative impacts include the mistreatment of animals, the spread of disease, changes in animal behaviour, reduced breeding success and danger to tourists. Activities such as elephant riding, lion cub petting and captive dolphin swims are widely criticised.
How can I be a responsible wildlife tourist?
Responsible wildlife tourists research attractions before visiting, avoid activities that involve touching, riding or feeding wild animals, keep their distance from wildlife, choose genuine sanctuaries over entertainment venues, and avoid souvenirs and food made from threatened species.
Wildlife tourism: Further reading
The following texts are a good starting point for further reading on wildlife tourism:
- Wildlife Tourism– A landmark contribution to the rapidly growing field of wildlife tourism, especially in regard to its underpinning foundations of science, conservation and policy.
- Wildlife Tourism Futures: Encounters with Wild, Captive and Artificial Animals– An excellent book focussing on future wildlife tourism development and management; the experiential value, educational components and ethical relevance of tourism-animal encounters; and the technology applied to wildlife tourism.
- Marine Wildlife and Tourism Management: Insights from the Natural and Social Sciences– This book demonstrates that through scientific approaches to understanding and managing tourist interactions with marine wildlife, sustainable marine tourism can be achieved.
