Whale Watching Worldwide

Australia
Year Number of
whale
watchers
AAGR Number of
operators
Direct
expenditure
Indirect
expenditure
Total
expenditure
1991 335,200 N/A N/A $3,056,000 $29,213,000 $32,269,000
1994 446,000 10.0% N/A $4,662,000 $40,338,000 $45,000,000
1998 734,962 13.3% 223 $11,869,000 $44,327,000 $56,196,000
2003 1,618,027 17.1% 209 $19,118,775 $160,479,162 $179,597,937
2008 1,635,374 8.3% 29 137 $31,018,879 $140,952,919 $171,971,798
Capital City: Canberra
The vast coastline of Australia offers many boat‐, land‐ and air‐
based whale watching opportunities. Since 1998, the number of
whale watchers has more than doubled, from 735,000 to over 1.6
million, representing an annual average growth rate of 8.3%. Over
the decade, whale watching in Australia has been a story of growth
and redistribution, as new areas have started offering whale
watching and existing areas have seen tourist numbers plateau or
even decline. Whale watching tourism in Australia is now a $31
million dollar industry (in terms of direct expenditure), generating
total expenditure of $172 million and directly supporting an
estimated 617 jobs. Large declines in the number of operators since 1998, and even 2003, are the result of
including only active operators in this study. Previous research had included all permit holders, regardless of
whether they were running commercial trips or not.
A significant study was undertaken for Australia in 2003 (Economists at Large, 2004) that assessed the
growth in whale watching since 1998. Overall, 2008 numbers have been relatively steady since 2003, but
the boat‐based component of whale watching has grown at a rate of 3.2% per year, with numbers increasing
from 558,336 tourists in 2003 to 653,825 tourists in 2008.
Along the eastern and western coast of Australia, the primary focus of whale watching is the migration of
humpback and southern right whales. Dolphin watching accounts for a large number of all whale watching
tourists in Australia, with significant, long‐established industries at Monkey Mia in Western Australia, Port
Phillip Bay in Victoria, Port Stephens in New South Wales, Moreton Bay and Hervey Bay in Queensland.
Hervey Bay continues to attract the largest number of large cetacean watching tourists ‐ nearly 65,000 in
2008. Port Stephens attracts the largest annual number of boat‐based whale watch tourists anywhere in
Australia – it received just over 270,000 tourists in 2008, over 80% of whom were there for dolphin watching
tours.
In the south of Australia, southern right whales are predominantly the focus of land‐based whale watching
along the coast of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Resident bottlenose dolphin populations
also make up a significant proportion of the industry in these areas. Humpback whales are also seen along
these coastlines, as well as sperm whales and occasionally blue whales. The only known dedicated blue
whale operator in Australia runs helicopter trips out of Portland in Victoria.
29 AAGR from 1998 to 2008
162