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owners, who felt that a smaller, faster boat would allow more trips. Whale watching trips are typically two hours long, compared with other marine tours that typically last an hour. Peak demand for whale watching occurs from August to November, coinciding with the peak period for overseas visitors and the local September holiday period. However, whale watching is feasible as a year-round activity in some areas. Operators conduct up to 4 or 5 trips per day durng the main season. Numbers of trips, passengers and occupancy rates vary greatly between operators, and there were discrepancies between logbook and interview data. For operators that reported all trips, whale sightings occurred on 23-82% of trips, whereas those that just reported whale trips had sightings on 92-100% of trips. It was estimated that 26 000 passengers went on whale watching trips in 2004, of whom 86% were foreign. With prices per trip ranging from R150 – R650 (average R400), total turnover was estimated to be in the order of R12.8 mililon. Most permit holders generate over R200 000 from whale watching trips alone. Based on costs attributed to the boat-based whale watching aspect of the business, this activity was estimated to be profitable for two-thirds of permit holders. The non-profitable businesses were not operating at full capacity for various reasons. About half of turnover is profit. The success of different permit holders was not significantly related to frequency of whale sightings, but there was a strong relationship between the degree of investment in marketing and business turnover. High profits were also generally recorded for operations with medium sized boats (16 – 30 passengers). Other factors that probably influenced success included the capability of permit hodlers, the location, e.g. in relation to tourist centres, and competition from other locations or operators, including nonpermitted operators in the same area. Boat-based whale watching is estimated to generate about R45 million in tourism expenditure in South Africa, contributing some R37 million to Gross Domestic Product. Strictly speaking, the economic impact of boat-based whale watching is the expenditure that would not have occurred in the absence of the industry. It is difficult to assess the degree to which this is the case without carrying out a survey of whale watchers. For the industry to have a really significant impact, boat-based whale watching has to become a sufficiently significant component in the variety of attractions offered by South Africa to swing tourists’ decisions about where to go on vacation. In other words, it has to be competitive on a global scale. In addition to permitted activity, there is considerable activity by non-permitted operators. The permitted and non-permitted activities together provide a reasonable picture of the variation of demand around the coast. This variation, in relation to numbers of permits currently on offer, can help inform future management of the industry, such as where to concentrate activity. Four types of operators were identified, with estimates of their numbers as follows: Possible Permit Non-permitted operators permits holders Dedicated Incidental Opportunistic West coast 3 1 1 3-5 2-4 Cape Metro 3 4 1 4 Agulhas Coast 5 5 Garden Route 4 4 1 1 2 Sunshine Coast 2 1 3 Border Kei 1 0 2 Wild Coast 2 1 Hibiscus Coast 2 1 1 3 5-6 Durban/Dolphin Coast 1 0 1 3-4 Zululand 1 0 Maputaland 2 1 2 4 2 There is no rigorous way of quantifying future potential of an industry. Assumptions have to be made on the basis of the factors perceived to be important to the success of businesses in the industry. The magnitude and future changes of these factors themselves often have to be estimated based on expert opinion. This is certainly the case with boat-based whale watching. Future potential can be assessed by examining the natural resources that contribute to the attractiveness of the service offered, current occupancy levels and surplus capacity (taking cognisance of the influence of different
usiness characteristics and unrelated reasons for failure), the pre-existing tourist market and accessibility and the constraints such as sea and launching conditions. We take these factors into consideration in estimating the potential number of permits required in each area in order to maximise industry potential. Boat-based whale watching has grown steadily from 1999 to 2003, with numbers of passengers remaining stable from 2003 to 2004, possibly due in part to the strengthening of the rand. Based on possible seagoing days during whale season, it is estimated that the permitted boats are only operating at about one third of their potential capacity. Some of this is due to certain boats that have not yet begun operations, and others that are experiencing difficulties. The degree of non-permitted activity suggests that the demand exists to take advantage of this spare capacity to some extent. Taking the marketability of the resource base into account (the quality of whale watching), the limitations imposed by sea conditions, and the existing demand as described by operators and tourism agents, different parts of the coast were rated from poor to excellent in terms of their whale watching potential. Based on existing demand, rather than potential demand that could be generated by additional marketing, it is estimated that the coast could already support at least six additional permits in some of the better areas. Note that current demand is a function of successful marketing efforts by existing permit holders as well as regional tourism bodies. Taking untapped existing markets into account, this could potentially increase to 11 additional permits. Demand could potentially be increased in a number of other areas by marketing, although permit numbers will ultimately be restricted by sustainability issues. Indeed, the decision on where to expand boat-based whale watching activities in future should ultimately be decided on the basis of marketing strategy (e.g. concentrating activity into high quality whale watching areas) and what the resource can withstand, rather than where current demand exists. In the poor areas, where few of the possible permits have been taken up, the activity may not be viable at present. The increased number of permits should be seen as synonymous with an expansion in the number of boats (i.e. each permit is for one boat). There is no economic reason for this to mean that the additional permits should not go to existing permit holders. Indeed, multiple users working in the same area would be expected to compete, which would create greater pressure on the resource, whereas a single owner of multiple permits would have more of an incentive to protect the resource. Moreover, allowing existing permit holders to have additional permitted boats rewards these operators instead of penalising them by providing new permits to other operators in areas where they have created demand. In order to maximise the industry potential and minimise the obstacles to growth, the main recommendations made with regard to its management by MCM are as follows: • MCM and SABBWWA should enter into a co-management arrangement whereby SABBWWA participates in permit allocation, law enforcement and performance assessment of permit holders; • Communication should be streamlined through a dedicated liaison person from each organisation; • The number of available permits should be increased in areas with high potential, subject to environmental impact assessment, and reviewed on a regular basis; • Allocation of permits should be based on a systematic set of criteria and weightings which include indications of capability and likely success, black empowerment and quality of service; • Permits should confer long-term rights, subject to annual payments and performance assessments which check activity, compliance, monitoring and standards of service; and • Permit fees should be used towards effective policing, data analysis, communication and research.
Page 3: BOAT-BASED WHALE WATCHING IN SOUTH
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 48 and 49: around 30 to 35 passengers were per
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
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The Cape Metro area is a major tour
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focused on harbour trips and until
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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
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