Whale Watching Worldwide

Asia
Year Number of
whale
watchers
AAGR Number of
countries
Direct
expenditure
Indirect
expenditure
Total expenditure
1991 10,992 N/A 2 $371,000 $4,377,000 $4,748,000
1994 73,192 88.1% 12 $3,887,000 $20,714,000 $24,601,000
1998 220,465 31.7% 13 $7,735,000 $36,969,000 $44,704,000
2008 1,055,781 17.2% 20 $21,573,315 $44,365,015 $65,938,330
Asia has seen a remarkable growth in whale and dolphin watching over the last ten years. Seven countries
have begun whale watching in this time, and the number of people whale watching has increased five‐fold,
from approximately 220,000 to over 1 million. Much of this growth has come from China, Taiwan, India,
Japan, Cambodia and Laos.
Cetacean watching in Asia takes place in an amazing variety of locations, from the Russian Arctic to
Indonesia’s tropical beaches, from the middle of the Indian Ocean to landlocked countries Nepal and Laos,
from remote islands to the middle of major metropolises like Hong Kong. While many cetacean watching
companies in Asia have traditionally targeted foreign tourists – for example in Goa, Bali and the Maldives –
Asia’s economic boom has seen a growth in local whale watchers. Indeed, the largest growth in whale
watcher numbers has come from industries catering to local markets – particularly the booming middle
classes of China, Taiwan and India.
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