Conservation benefits of interpretation on marine wildlife tours

Abstract

Marine wildlife tours provide a range of education and conservation benefits for visitors. These benefits derive from interpretation programs and close personal encounters with marine wildlife. Interpretive information covers the biology, ecology and behaviors of marine species, best practice guidelines, and human threats to marine life. There has been limited assessment of interpretation on marine wildlife tours to identify whether these increase tourist knowledge and promote changes in environmental attitudes. This article reviews the educational benefits of guided marine wildlife experiences with dolphins, whales, and marine turtles using Oram's (1999) framework of outcome indicators to manage marine tourism. The key indicators assessed in this article are education/learning and attitude/belief changes in visitors that benefit marine wildlife. This analysis found tourist learning during mediated encounters with marine wildlife contributes to pro-environmental attitudes and on-site behavior changes, with some longer-term intentions to support and engage in marine conservation actions. Areas of research are suggested to examine the causal links between wildlife interpretation and pro-environmental outcomes.