Latest News
Whale Watching Worldwide - Report Released!
24 June 2009
Report commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and carried out by Economists at Large shows that, in 2008, more than 13 million people took part in whale watching around the world, generating US$2.1 billion in tourism expenditure.
A decade of whale watching - the global industry in 2008, new report by EcoLarge
22 April 2009
A report commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and undertaken by Economists at Large over the past year is nearing completion, and will be the most comprehensive review of global whale watching tourism since 2001.
Economists at Large - economists without borders
2 March 2009
Economists at Large are increasingly 'economists without borders', with consultants having been involved in projects in Indonesia and Laos. As well as this, for the current global whale watching project, EcoLarge has a team of economists working across four continents and speaking ten languages.
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Whale Watching Worldwide - Report Released!
(Madeira, Portugal -- 23 June 2009) -A new report released today by the
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW -- www.ifaw.org) documents
massive growth in the global whale watching industry over the past
decade. The new report, Whale Watching Worldwide, comes as more than 80
countries debate the future of whaling and whale conservation at the
61st annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in
Madeira, Portugal.
The new, country-by-country economic analysis shows more than 13 million
people took whale watching tours last year in 119 countries worldwide,
generating ticket fees and tourism expenditures of more than US$2.1
billion (more than AUD $2.8 billion) during 2008. The report also
shows dramatic growth of the whale watching industry in Asia, the
Pacific, South America, the Caribbean and Europe significantly outpacing
global tourism growth rates over the past decade. More than 3,000 whale
watching operations around the world now employ an estimated 13,200
people.
The Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett, welcomed the new report
and formally introduced it to government delegations attending the
Madeira IWC meeting. "I commend IFAW for producing this very timely
report. At a time when our global economy, our planet's great whales and
international whale conservation efforts are all under threat, it is
encouraging to see coastal communities across Australia, the Asia
Pacific region and worldwide reaping massive benefits from the dynamic
growth of this form of ecotourism," he said. "The bottom line is clear.
Whales are worth much more alive than dead."
"While governments debate what to do about whales, their citizens are
pointing the way," said Patrick Ramage, IFAW Global Whale Program
Director. "Animals, people and the global economy all do better when
whales are seen and not hurt. We should be conserving whales in 2009
and shooting them with cameras, not compromising conservation measures
and expanding commercial whaling."
Australia saw more than 1.6 million people go whale watching. This
represents an annual growth rate of 8.3% since the last global report
was compiled in 1998, generating almost AUD$264 million for our economy.
"Ten years ago the Million Watch Club for whales consisted of the USA,
Canada and the Canary Islands-now Australia has pushed past the Canary
Islands to join Canada and the United States to be a part of the
exclusive club of three," said IFAW Asia Pacific Director, Erica Martin.
The past decade shows continuing growth and redistribution of whale
watching in Australia, with an expansion of activity into new locations
as well as some areas seeing a maturing industry where tourist numbers
have plateaued or even declined such as in Victoria (mainly due to
fluctuations in annual visitation of both whales and tourists).
"A significant increase was seen in Tasmania with a staggering average
annual growth rate of 37.6%, followed by New South Wales with 14.7%
growth," said Ms Martin.
Port Stephens attracts the largest annual number of boat-based whale
watch tourists anywhere in Australia, receiving just over 270,000
tourists in 2008, more than 80% of whom were there for dolphin watching
tours.
International research, data collection and analysis for the IFAW report
were conducted over the past 18 months by Economists at Large and
Associates of Melbourne, Australia.
The report can be downloaded at www.ifaw.org/whalewatchingworldwide
Executive summary is available at www.ifaw.org/wwwsummary
::CONTACTS::
Patrick Ramage (IFAW) at the IWC meeting
+1 508-776-0027, pramage@ifaw.org
Erica Martin (IFAW Asia Pacific - Sydney)
+61 2 9288 4999, emartin@ifaw.org
Simon O'Connor (Economists at Large - Melbourne)
+61 (0)401 360 500, simon@ecolarge.com
::PRESS::
[ENGLISH]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8114353.stm
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/whales-worth-more-alive-than-dead-20090624-cvmb.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/24/2607050.htm?section=australia http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/whale-watching-trumps-whaling/?hp
[PORTUGUESE]
http://www.acorianooriental.pt/noticias/view/187183