IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tho/journl/v25y2019n1p141-160.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reflecting on the human dimensions of wild dolphin tourism in marine environments

Author

Listed:
  • Jessica Patroni Author-Email: Jessica.Patroni@Murodch.edu.au Author-Workplace-Name: Harry Butler Institute Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems, Murdoch, Western Australia
  • David Newsome

    (Murdoch University College of Science, Health, Engineering, and Education Environmental and Conservation Sciences, Murdoch, Western Australia)

  • David Kerr

    (Dolphin Discovery Centre, Bunbury, Western Australia)

  • Daminda P. Sumanapala

    (NSBM Green University Town School of Business Faculty of Management Mahenwaththa, Pitipana, Homagama, Sri Lanka)

  • Greg D. Simpson

    (Harry Butler Institute Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems, Murdoch, Western Australia)

Abstract

Purpose – Many studies report on the potential ecological impacts of wild dolphin tourism, risks to people, and economic benefits to local communities. Fewer studies report the social aspects (human dimensions) of dolphin tourism, such as visitor satisfaction and attitudes of participants. This communication postulates that human dimensions are an important consideration in any strategy to keep wild dolphin tourism operations sustainable by balancing the welfare of the dolphins and the desires and expectations of tourists to interact with these charismatic, iconic creatures. Methodology – This communication synthesizes learning gained from a recent quantitative systematic literature review of marine wildlife tourism, a previously unreported review of wild dolphin tourism literature, and a recent study from the Dolphin Discovery Centre in Bunbury, Western Australia. Findings – Human attitudes towards marine mammals ultimately reflect how dolphin tourism is developed and managed. It is therefore important to understand how people experience and perceive dolphin tourism. Wild dolphin tourism is of great value to local economies, tour operators, and visitors who enjoy those experiences. The potential impacts that can arise from dolphin tourism need to be understood and minimised by actions under the control of tour operators and government authorities. This is important to make the satisfaction visitors gain from such experiences worthwhile and to ensure the long-term sustainability of wild dolphin tourism experiences. Originality of the research – Most wild dolphin tourism research has an ecological focus. This communication demonstrates that equally important social research, concerned with understanding visitor awareness, knowledge, expectations, and satisfaction, has a vital role to play in developing best practice management for wild dolphin tourism experiences.

Suggested Citation

  • Jessica Patroni Author-Email: Jessica.Patroni@Murodch.edu.au Author-Workplace-Name: Harry Butler Institute Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems, Murdoch, Western Australia & David Newsome & David, 2019. "Reflecting on the human dimensions of wild dolphin tourism in marine environments," Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, vol. 25(1), pages 141-160, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:tho:journl:v:25:y:2019:n:1:p:141-160
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.20867/thm.25.1.8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/319661
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/https://doi.org/10.20867/thm.25.1.8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daniela Soldić Frleta, 2014. "Island destinations' tourism offer - tourists' vs. residents' attitudes," Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, May.
    2. Marios Sotiriadis, 2017. "Experiential dimensions and their influence on behavioral intentions within the context of nature-based tourism," Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, vol. 23(1), pages 35-50, May.
    3. Filby, Nicole E. & Stockin, Karen A. & Scarpaci, Carol, 2015. "Social science as a vehicle to improve dolphin-swim tour operation compliance?," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 40-47.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Daminda Sumanapala & Isabelle D. Wolf, 2022. "Introducing Geotourism to Diversify the Visitor Experience in Protected Areas and Reduce Impacts on Overused Attractions," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-15, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Torres Matovelle, Pablo & Molina Molina, Gina, 2019. "Evaluation of crowding and tourist satisfaction in the practice of humpback whale - watching, the case of Puerto López - Ecuador," Cuadernos de Gestión, Universidad del País Vasco - Instituto de Economía Aplicada a la Empresa (IEAE).
    2. Mara Dionisio & Mafalda Mendes & Marc Fernandez & Valentina Nisi & Nuno Nunes, 2022. "Aqua: Leveraging Citizen Science to Enhance Whale-Watching Activities and Promote Marine-Biodiversity Awareness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-26, October.
    3. Aleksandra Krajnovic & Jurica Bosna & Tanja Basic, 2015. "Proposal of the Brand Strategy of the Island of Pag in Function of Tourism Development," MIC 2015: Managing Sustainable Growth; Proceedings of the Joint International Conference, Portorož, Slovenia, 28–30 May 2015,, University of Primorska, Faculty of Management Koper.
    4. José Ramón-Cardona & David Daniel Peña-Miranda & María Dolores Sánchez-Fernández, 2021. "Acceptance of Tourist Offers and Territory: Cluster Analysis of Ibiza Residents (Spain)," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-15, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dolphins; human dimensions; marine wildlife tourism; visitor attitudes/satisfaction; Bunbury; Western Australia Journal: Tourism and Hospitality Management;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tho:journl:v:25:y:2019:n:1:p:141-160. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ana Montan (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.fthm.uniri.hr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.