Whale Watching Worldwide

Main species:
Tourists:
Small cetaceans:
spinner dolphin, short‐finned pilot whale
International N/A
Domestic N/A
Types of tours: Boat‐based, opportunistic (on dive trips)
Average adult ticket price: N/A
Estimated employment
numbers:
None
Main wale watch season: Year‐round
Acknowledgements:
South Pacific Tourism Organisation, FSM Tourism Board and dive operators.
References:
Research for this country was taken from the Pacific Islands Whale Watch Tourism report undertaken by Economists at
Large for IFAW. 2005 data from that report have been projected forward to 2008, where we assume continued low
numbers of whale watching.
Fiji
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 ~1 Minimal Minimal Minimal
2005 Minimal 0% Minimal Minimal Minimal Minimal
2008 Minimal 0% 1 Minimal Minimal Minimal
Capital City: Suva
According to the South Pacific Tourism Organisation, Fiji has the
most developed tourism market in the South Pacific. In 2004, the
country attracted around 40% of the 1.1 million visitors to the South
Pacific region 45 . In 2004, visitor arrivals were around 506,000 46 , just
less than 550,000 in 2007, with projections for 2009 at 600,000 47 .
However, the county’s whale watching industry is virtually non‐
existent.
There has in the past been an informal dolphin watching industry
active in Fiji through the country’s 70+ dive operators, but reports
indicate that this de facto industry now attracts only low numbers
with occasional sightings of small cetaceans on dive trips. Dolphin sightings do not appear frequent enough
to support anything other than a low‐scale, opportunistic industry and as a result there is currently no
45
Hopkins, R, ‘South Pacific – Facts and Figures of Tourism’, SPTO, accessed July, 2006, available online at
http://www.stpo.org
46
ibid.
47
Tourism Fiji, ‘2009 Marketing Plan’, Executive Summary, accessed March 2009, available online at
http://www.fijime.com
179