Download PDF (2.5MB) - Anchor Environmental

More documents

Recommendations

Info

around 30 to 35 passengers were perceived to be optimal by both active permit holders, and were linked to their desire to cater to tour bus clientele. Trip characteristics Trips focused on whales, but various other attractions were also offered, including penguin and seal viewing around Seal Island and the Robben Island World Heritage Site. Seal Island was identified as a local hotspot for whale activity, with other wildlife sighted being described as an incidental bonus. During the very early and late parts of the season, as whale numbers declined, trips in Area 5 were made in the direction of Cape Point which added a further scenic attraction to the tour. Two standard routes were used in Area 4, one extending up the west coast towards Robben Island and another moving south towards Hout Bay. The specific route chosen was dependent on relative amount of whale activity.. It was hoped that the purchase of a faster boat would allow a combination of these two routes to be offered in future. Trip times in the region were on average 2.6 hours, though the active permit holder in Area 4 reported trip times of up to 4hrs due to longer travelling times linked to a slower boat and the minimum travelling distance before whales were encountered. There were, however, plans to purchase a faster boat which would significantly decrease trip times. Ticket prices by permitted and non-permitted operators ranged from R150 to R350 per person. Seasonality and demand All permit holders in the region, with the exception of the operator in Area 5, are active throughout the year in the boat-based tourism industry, catering to various tastes including general scenic tours, diving, fishing and sunset cruises. The boat-based whale watching aspect of their business generally fills what is perceived to be the relatively quieter winter season, thus ensuring a steady income throughout the year and was reported to be a major draw card for permit holders, including the newest permit holders in Area 6. Foreign visitors reportedly made up 70 – 90% of clients. Trip occupancy was also reported has high, regardless of boat size. Good quality whale viewing is possible from June to mid November, but currently-active permit holders concentrate on a shorter period, focusing on times of highest demand. Periods of peak demand during this season were identified between mid-July and mid-November in Areas 4 and 5. At least one operator reported experiencing a dip in demand during the middle of the season, attributing this to the Hermanus Whale Festival. The possibility of seeing whales probably increases demand for many tours in the region during the otherwise poor winter season. However, the fact that whale season occurs during winter also constitutes a constraint, in that sea and weather conditions can be problematic. Indeed, most permit holders gave sea conditions as the main limiting factor in terms of the number of trips that could be offered. Though there is high demand for boat-based whale watching in this region, this was not apparent to existing operators. The two longer-term permit holders felt that tourist numbers were only just sufficient to support their businesses. In Area 6, where the two newest permit holders will operate, the operators felt that existing demand was initially expected to be sufficient to recoup expenses at least. This was expected to improve as marketing and boat activity increased. The importance of being on a scheduled tour-bus stop was stressed by most operators and various methods were being explored by the operators to encourage this, including increased marketing, improved infrastructure and special rates. Tour buses offered a regular guaranteed client pool in terms of their arriving in large groups at regular intervals, thus allowing operators to plan and estimate the costs and income from trips sometime in advance. This however did place minimum requirements on passenger capacity and boat size in order to satisfy this demand in times of high bus activity. As noted above however, the level of infrastructure in terms of harbour facilities presents no constraint on this and both active permit holders indicated their plans to meet these requirements and capitalise on this supply of tourists. Perceived trends and opportunities The region is seen to have a high potential for industry growth by all operators, though at least one operator noted that this did not necessarily mean that all sites within the region would be successful. The area offers many opportunities in terms of the general volume of visitors each year but suffers due to a lack of sufficient marketing and awareness of the potential for whale watching at specific 39
sites for it to compete with whale-based tourism in the neighbouring Agulhas Coast Region, particularly in Hermanus. All operators interviewed identified Hermanus as a potential constraint and competitor, in some cases at least as detrimental to their income as operators in or neighbouring their immediate area of operation. The impact from neighbouring permit holders was perceived by one operator to be less as permit holders generally respected the boundaries they were allocated, thus removing any direct competition. The impact of permit holders in other areas of the country was difficult to isolate but would impact the general movements and lengths of stay of visitors inclined towards boat-based whale watching. This supports the general feeling that one permit per area is currently a maximum and may even already be negatively impacting neighbouring permit holders at certain times of year. The situation in Area 6, where two permits have been allocated may present problems, particularly with both operators occurring in a relatively “unknown” whale watching area and about to develop this aspect of their existing business for the first time. The extent of this will however only become evident after their first season or two of operation, though both permits come up for renewal and reappraisal in 2005. It was, however, stated by some permit holders that as general demand and awareness grew in the area and the specific location of areas offering whale watching were better known, more permits could be viable. This situation would thus require monitoring over time for the potential of further permit allocation. It should be stressed that this would be in the mid to long term as only one permit holder can currently be described as successful in the region. 6.2.3 Agulhas Coast (Area 7-11; Permits: 5 of 5) The Agulhas Coast includes the current hotspot for whale watching, centred in and around the town of Hermanus and the Walker Bay area (Findlay 1997). Walker Bay was found to be among the top 3 sites in the south Western Cape for densities of Southern Right Whales, the other two areas being De Hoop, a closed area, and St Sebastian Bay (Elwen & Best 2004b). The area has gained popularity as a world-class land-based whale watching destination, and its growth as a tourism node has also been facilitated by its proximity to and easy access from Cape Town (DEAT 1999). This popularity, along with perceived potential, has resulted in MCM allowing three permits in what are essentially two designated boat-based whale watching areas in Walker Bay. Areas 7 and 8 jointly support a third permit holder who ‘roves’ between these areas in alternate weeks, which we have termed Area 9. . Permitted activity All five available permits are currently in use. One permitted operator (Area 7) was unavailable for interview. Information for this area is thus based on information made available by neighbouring permit holders and MCM. The three permit holders currently active in Walker Bay (Areas 7, 8 & 9) are located immediately adjacent to Hermanus and benefit from the existing popularity of this area. The current permit holder in Kleinbaai (Area 10) has been similarly successful by actively attracting foreign clients through an aggressive marketing strategy geared towards online and pre-booking, as opposed to the typical “walk-in” clientele which dominate the other areas in the region. In this case, whale watching formed part of a package tour. This serves as an example of how a carefully planned marketing strategy could benefit an area that is not well known for its whale watching and turn into a successful enterprise. Non-permitted activity Non-permitted activity is almost non-existent in the area. Its is likely, however, that incidental viewing of whales may occur on fishing charters operating in Area 11, but the generally low tourist numbers and lack of activity out of the whale watching season makes this difficult to assess. In some areas, whale watching clientele were mainly brought in on tours, thus there was little opportunity for nonpermitted operators to take advantage of walk-in tourists or to attract clientele through competitive pricing. The lack of illegal activity was attributed to a high level of policing by local residents and successful enforcement by MCM in this region. Local residents view the whales as “their own” and fear the potential loss of whale due to disturbance or harassment. MCM has also successfully prosecuted and fined an unpermitted operator for operating without a permit, as well as one current permit holder for transgressions of their permit conditions. In Area 11, the permit holder claims to have acted in the policing role and to have halted the activities of at least one operator by causing the removal of 40
Page 3: BOAT-BASED WHALE WATCHING IN SOUTH
Page 6 and 7: owners, who felt that a smaller, fa
Page 8 and 9: TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION..
Page 10 and 11: 1. INTRODUCTION The whale watching
Page 12 and 13: the main whale watching season. All
Page 14 and 15: 3. WHALE WATCHING: AN INTERNATIONAL
Page 16 and 17: location. Most cetaceans spend the
Page 18 and 19: 3.2 South Africa in perspective Boa
Page 20 and 21: Table 3.3 excludes countries where
Page 22 and 23: west coast up to February or March
Page 24 and 25: The designated areas also include a
Page 26 and 27: 5. PERMIT-HOLDER CHARACTERISTICS, S
Page 28 and 29: The majority of permitted operators
Page 30 and 31: Two very large boats excluded, a ty
Page 32 and 33: November. This is probably due to a
Page 34 and 35: holder, with a total of just over 3
Page 36 and 37: Based on rack rates and the estimat
Page 38 and 39: 5.12 What determines success Based
Page 40 and 41: impact along the Garden Route, anot
Page 42 and 43: 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20
Page 44 and 45: 6.2 Western Cape The Western Cape P
Page 46 and 47: Equipment and infrastructure The fu
Page 50 and 51: advertising material which offered
Page 52 and 53: generally variable in their length,
Page 54 and 55: Non-permitted activity One dedicate
Page 56 and 57: Equipment, trip characteristics and
Page 58 and 59: 6.4 KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal cur
Page 60 and 61: visitors can be accommodated before
Page 62 and 63: Run on its way past Durban. Trips w
Page 64 and 65: Operators in Area 25 also offered d
Page 66 and 67: 6.5 Summary of legal and illegal ac
Page 68 and 69: 7. FUTURE POTENTIAL OF THE INDUSTRY
Page 70 and 71: Overall demand is heavily influence
Page 72 and 73: The most important enabling criteri
Page 74 and 75: The Cape Metro area is a major tour
Page 76 and 77: focused on harbour trips and until
Page 78 and 79: Wetland Park, Pondoland, the Greate
Page 80 and 81: 8.3 The permit system, conditions a
Page 82 and 83: Monitoring will also be vital for e
Page 84 and 85: 15. Data collected by operators and
Page 86 and 87: Woods-Ballard, A.J., Parsons, E.C.M
Page 88 and 89: 11. APPENDIX 2. SUMMARY OF COMMERCI
Page 90 and 91: used for whale watching must be acc
Page 92 and 93: Both the National and state governm
Page 94 and 95: effort to be controlled through res
Page 96 and 97: not is broached several times each
Page 98 and 99:
11.5 South America 11.5.1 Ecuador T
Page 100 and 101:
The Dominican Republic has strict c
Page 102 and 103:
12. APPENDIX 3: NOTIFICATION OF PER
Page 104 and 105:
4. Applicants must be willing to si
Page 106 and 107:
SIMONSTOWN AREA Cape Point Lighthou
Page 108 and 109:
PLETTENBERG BAY AREA The Western Bo
Page 110 and 111:
(iii) the extent to which the appli
Page 112 and 113:
Table I. Rating of the whale resour
show all

Download PDF (2.5MB) - Anchor Environmental

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?