Whale Watching Worldwide

Cook Islands
Year Number of
whale
watchers
AAGR Number of
operators
Direct
expenditure
Indirect
expenditure
Total
expenditure
1991 None N/A None None None None
1994 None N/A None None None None
1998 Minimal N/A N/A Minimal Minimal Minimal
2005 3,715 64% Minimal $9,890 $464,375 $474,265
2008 3,989 31.9% 41 Minimal $10,619 $498,619 $509,238
Capital City: Avarua
Whale Watch Locations:
01: Rarotonga
The Cook Islands have a strong tourism market and is one of the
tourism industry leaders in the Pacific Islands region. It is estimated
that the Cook Islands received 82,000 visitors in 2004 (latest
available data through SPTO) 42 , a large proportion of them arriving
from New Zealand (40%). Humpback whales migrate past the Cook
Islands on their northern migration and later in the season on their
return journey south. As the Islands are fringed by only a thin reef
(in particular, Rarotonga), the ocean drops quickly to substantial
depth, bringing the migrating whales close to shore. As such, the whales can be seen easily from land‐based
locations. A national whale sanctuary has been established to protect the migrating whales.
There is little in the way of a formalised, boat‐based whale watch industry (some informal viewing
reportedly takes place from local fishing boats or by dive operators), but there are some initiatives on the
island to promote land‐based viewing. A whale education centre has been established on Rarotonga
providing information to tourists and locals alike, including daily sighting locations. Furthermore, a viewing
platform has been built to facilitate land‐based viewing of whales.
Although the country attracts very little direct economic benefit from the land‐based whale watch activities
(around $10,000 per annum), there is nevertheless still an indirect benefit equally large as for those
countries that conduct formal boat‐based whale watching. This is calculated based on the fact that land‐
based whale watching provides tourists with an attraction to an area, and by ‘participating’, one can
attribute a portion of their daily expenses to this activity (i.e. accommodation, food, etc). Therefore, the
figure reported above reflects the same calculation methodology as other countries where whale watching is
undertaken by boat.
Due to the more formal approach to land‐based whale watching, the Cook Islands is the only Pacific Island
country in this study to have whale watcher numbers counted for land‐based viewing (estimated at over
3,500 land‐based whale watchers in 2008 43 ).
41
AAGR from 1998 to 2008
42
South Pacific Tourism Organisation, Visitor Arrivals by country of residence – Cook Islands, online at
http://www.stpo.org
43
This figure is estimated as a proportion of numbers of visitors to the whale education centre (many of whom then
visit a location advised for good sighting opportunities) with allowance for additional land‐based viewers using the
viewing platform. Centre for Cetacean Research and Conservation, pers.comm. (May 2005)
177