Insights into wildlife tourism research

Introduction\nThere is increasing recognition of the popularity of wildlife tourism globally, including its importance in particular countries and regions (Africa, Central America and SE Asia) (Newsome et al. 2005, Bhatt and Pickering 2022). Much of this tourism occurs in protected areas, and can contribute to conservation, but also can have adverse impacts on wildlife including direct effects on animals (physiological stress, disruption of foraging, breeding and provisioning), but also broader impacts on wildlife habitats. There is also interest in human-wildlife engagement which includes the tourism industry, economics, management, local community benefits as well as the effect on tourist experience and other key actors (Newsome et al. 2005, Moorhouse et al. 2017). To provide insights into this topic, we provide a snapshot of current research on wildlife tourism using a bibliometric/scientometric approach highlighting major themes and future foci.\nMethods\nTo assess the current status of research the large comprehensive academic database Scopus was searched in March 2022 for all articles, reviews and conference papers on ‘wildlife’ and ‘tourism’. Books and book chapters, although important, were not included here as they are indexed in different ways including missing keywords. The metadata for all the resulting publications was downloaded as a csv file and then imported into Excel where basic analyses were undertaken including assessing when and where research was published and by whom. Then research themes were identified using keyword analysis in the bibliometric program VosViewer. \nResults\nThere were 2,174 publications relating to wildlife tourism, most of which were articles (1,930), but also some reviews (134) and conference papers (110). The research was predominantly within the areas of Environmental Science (48%), Social Science (39%), Agriculture and Biological Science (33%) and Business, Management and Accounting (25%), with many publications appearing in journals relating to more than one subject area. Outlets for the research were diverse with publications in 780 different journals and conferences, but those with a focus on the topic included the Journal of Sustainable Tourism (82 publications), Journal of Ecotourism (69), Tourism Management (62) and Biological Conservation (59).\nThe earliest article in by Thomson in 1970 examined chemical pollution affecting flamingos in Lake Nauru in Kenya, and its impacts on a wildlife sanctuary in the journal Oryx. There was small but steady stream of research on wildlife tourism over the next few decades, increasing more rapidly in from 2000, peaking with 241 publications in 2021. \nImportant themes were apparent when the keywords from the publications were assessed, with a strong focus on ecotourism, protected areas, sustainability and recreation (Figure 1). In terms of where research was undertaken, it included Australia, African countries including Zimbabwe, Botswana, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, as well as the USA and Canada, China, India, Europe and New Zealand. In contrast, most researchers were from the United States (543 publications), Australia (345), the United Kingdom (263), South Africa (170) or Canada (157), but there were at least 10 publications or more from researchers from 54 countries reflecting diversity in research interest in this topic.\nIn terms of specific types of wildlife examined it was mainly concerned mammals, birds and fish as well as forests, with publications on whales, sharks, elephants, cats and dolphins, primates and bears, including endangered species. The research examined ecology, conservation, ecosystems, disturbance, anthropogenic effects, physiology, behaviour, and habitats.\nThere was also research on the business, management and human side of wildlife tourism including examining economics, environmental protection or management, nature-society relations, tourist perceptions, behaviour, activities, attitudes and attractions, but also hunting, local participation and stakeholders.\nSome of the key authors whose publications are regularly cited within this research include Roy Ballantyne, Jan Packer, Karen Hughes, Lars Bejder, Philip Dearden, David Newsome, Charlie Huveneers, Susanna Curtin, Sue Moore and David Lusseau.\n \nFigure 1. Visualization of themes within keywords for research on wildlife tourism from the bibliometric program VosViewer, where the size of the term reflects how often it was used, while terms close together were more likely to co-occur in publication keywords. \nDiscussion and conclusion\nThis rapid assessment of the articles, reviews and conference papers highlighted the social, ecological and business focus of much of the research on wildlife tourism, but also identified some gaps that could benefit from future focus. This includes research on the impacts of climate change on wildlife tourism, including from changes in the distribution and abundance of wildlife, and putative tourism movements due to increasing sensitivity regarding carbon footprints seen in terms such as flight shaming, as many wildlife tourism destinations attract tourists from far away. Another obvious theme would be the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with resulting restrictions on travel, again affecting some destinations with rapid collapse in visitation (Newsome 2020). Changes in tourism within and from Asia is also an important aspect (Bhatt and Pickering 2022). The use of new technologies such as social media, machine learning and other online sources and their influence on promoting destinations and experiences, are also contributing to debates about welfare issues with wildlife tourism (Mangachena and Pickering 2021, Bhatt and Pickering 2022). Wildlife tourism research is poised to diversify while continuing to contribute to environmental sustainability.\nReferences\nBhatt, P. Pickering, C.M. (2022) Destination image of Chitwan National Park, Nepal: Insights from a content analysis of online photographs. Journal of Outdoor Tourism and Recreation. 100488.\nMangachena, J. Pickering, C.M. (2021) Implications of social media discourse for managing national parks in South Africa. Journal of Environmental Management. 285:112159. \nMoorhouse, T., D'Cruze, N.C., & Macdonald, D.W. (2017). Unethical use of wildlife in tourism: What's the problem, who is responsible, and what can be done? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 25(4), 505-516.\nNewsome, D. (2020) The collapse of tourism and its impact on wildlife tourism destinations. Journal of Tourism Futures. 7, 295-302. \nNewsome, D., Dowling, R. Moore, S. (2005) Wildlife Tourism. Channel View Publications, London, UK.

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