A reason not to support whaling – a tourism impact case study from the Dominican Republic

Abstract

Abstract In 2007, 206 tourists in the Dominican Republic were surveyed to determine whether the stance of a country in support of whale conservation, or in support of whaling, would affect their decision about whether to visit that country on holiday. The majority (77.1%; n = 205) stated that if a Caribbean country supported the hunting or capture of whales or dolphins they would be less likely to visit it on holiday (more likely: 2.9%; no opinion 20.0%). Moreover, a larger majority (81.1%) stated that if a country has a strong commitment to whale and dolphin conservation they would be more likely to visit that country on vacation (less likely: 4.9%; no opinion: 14.1%). There was no significant relationship between respondent demographics and their response. During this study the Dominican Republic was not a member of the International Whaling Commission (the international competent authority for whale management) but government officials were debating membership of, and their policy in, this highly polarized treaty organization. This study suggests that a highly visible national policy towards cetacean conservation, and against the capture of cetaceans, would be beneficial in attracting the tourists, whereas a visible pro-whaling policy might repel them. Keywords: whalingconservationInternational Whaling Commissiontourismboycottwhale watching Notes Whale watching is defined as ‘any commercial enterprise which provides for the public to see cetaceans in their natural habitat’ (International Whaling Commission, 1994 International Whaling Commission. 1994. Chairman's Report of the Forty-Fifth Annual Meeting. Appendix 9. IWC resolution on whalewatching. Reports of the International Whaling Commission, 44: 33–34. [Google Scholar]). Although the term ‘whale watching’ is used, the activity refers to tourist activities involving the viewing of all wild cetacean species, i.e. not just baleen (mysticete) whales, nor cetaceans with a ‘whale’ moniker such as killer and pilot whales (see definition in Parsons et al., 2006 Parsons, E. C.M., Fortuna, C. M., Ritter, F., Rose, N. A., Simmonds, M. P.Weinrich, M. 2006. Glossary of whalewatching terms. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, 8(Suppl.): 249–251. [Google Scholar]).