Whale Watching Worldwide

Acknowledgements:
Michael Poole (Marine Mammal Research Program) provided critical input to our earlier Pacific Islands Whale Watch
Tourism report.
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 at an average annual growth rate of
2.4% based on UN World Tourism Organisation regional growth data.
Guam
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 4,000 N/A N/A None None None
2005 84,000 70% 8 $5,712,000 $10,500,000 $16,212,000
2008 221,155 49.4% 53 15 $13,048,145 $19,627,506 $32,675,651
Capital City: Hagåtña
Whale Watch Locations:
01: Agat Marina
Guam has one of the largest commercial cetacean watching
industries in the Melanesian region of the Pacific Ocean, generating
an estimated total expenditure of $32.7 million for 2008. Two or
three large dolphin pods are known to inhabit the local waters,
providing an accessible and reliable target for an established
dolphin watching industry.
A significant proportion of local dolphin watching outfits reportedly
has contractual arrangements with tour operators who bring
predominantly Japanese tourists to the island. Guam is a unique island destination through its proximity to
the main tourist markets of Korea and Japan and as a result, it has a near‐continual tourist season all year
round.
The bulk of whale watching businesses operate out of the Agat Marina, located on the southwestern side of
the island, although tours also occasionally depart from the Agana Marina for excursions off the mid‐ to
northwest coast. Most excursions run for several hours, with companies offering two or three tours per day.
While some operators offer dedicated dolphin watching trips, many also combine the service with
snorkelling and diving packages. An average ticket price is $59 per person.
Spinner dolphins are the only cetaceans seen regularly enough to support a commercial industry. However
occasionally melon‐headed, short‐finned pilot, sperm and humpback whales and orcas are also reported.
Whale watching estimates for 2008 are derived from exit surveys by the Guam Visitors Bureau for Japanese
and Korean tourists, who constitute the largest proportion of visitors to the island. The figures from these
surveys are then combined with operator survey data. Government tourism data were not used to derive
53 AAGR from 1998 to 2008
182