Whale Watching Worldwide

epresents a significant average annual growth rate of just under 10% per annum since 1998. Across the
entire region, the industry is responsible for over $300 million in expenditures, up from $123 million in 1998.
For this section of the report, we have used additional data from reports undertaken over the last five years
by Economists at Large for the Oceania region – New Zealand, Australia, Tonga and the Pacific Islands have
all been researched as part of separate reports for IFAW. 27
For the Pacific Islands, a recent report was released in 2008 that looked at the industry in 2005. We have
drawn on this for the figures produced in this report, in many cases replicating those earlier figures (where
whale watching was a low level activity). In some cases, we have projected a growth trend forward from the
2005 figures based on country tourism arrival data combined with most recent growth rates in whale watch
tourism. Where this has occurred, it has been noted in the country summary below. For the major Pacific
Islands, where most of the whale watch activity occurs, discussion with local country contacts assisted to
ascertain the rate of change since the 2005 data was gathered. Where any growth projections are estimated
(from 2005‐2008), we have based these on a conservative figure of 2.4% annual average growth rate of
international inbound tourism. This figure is reported by the UN World Tourism Organisation as the average
rate of growth across the Oceania region for 2000‐04 (most recent data available). The same rate of growth
has been applied to expenditure levels.
In the case of Australia and New Zealand, entirely new surveys have been completed for this report in order
to gather the most up‐to‐date data on these countries, due to the significant size of their respective
industries. We have also covered whale watchers to Antarctica for the first time since IFAW’s 1998 global
study, and Guam has been totally re‐researched as it has such a significant proportion of the whale watching
tourism in the Pacific Islands region. For the countries of American Samoa, the Cook Islands, the Federated
States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and the
Solomon Islands, some research is also derived from an unpublished early version of the Pacific Islands
whale watching report from August 2006.
Acknowledgments:
Thanks go out to many people who have been generous with their time for this and previous work Economists at Large
have undertaken in the Oceania region in the last five years. In particular, Darren Kindleysides and Olive Andrews from
IFAW, Claire Garrigue and Aline Schaffer from Opération Cétacés, Mike Donoghue from the New Zealand Department
of Conservation, and Mark Orams among many others.
27 Economists at Large 2008, Pacific Islands Whale Watch Tourism: a region wide review of activity an IFAW report;
Economists at Large 2008, Whale Watching Tourism in the Kingdom of Tonga, a report for IFAW and Opérations
Cétacés; Economists at Large 2005, The Growth of Whale Watching in Sydney 2003‐2004: Economic Perspectives, an
IFAW Report; Economists at Large, 2005, The Growth of the New Zealand Whale Watching Industry, an IFAW Report;
Economists at Large 2004, From Whalers to Whale Watchers: the growth of whale watching tourism in Australia, an
IFAW report.
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