Whale Watching Worldwide

The figures of whale watch tourists estimated in the table above need to be interpreted with care as whale
watcher numbers in 2004 and 2008 include large numbers of opportunistic whale and dolphin watchers,
figures omitted by some other estimates of whale and dolphin watching by other parties in recent years.
Opportunistic dolphin watching adds significantly to total whale watch numbers, particularly in Fiordland
where an estimated 180,000 tourists see cetaceans incidentally as part of their general nature and scenery
cruises. While not dedicated cetacean watching cruises, cetaceans feature strongly in the marketing
material of many operators and government tourism resources for the region, forming an important
motivation and attraction for tourists to travel to this region, and as such a small proportion of all cruise
participants is included in this review, guided by the estimated likelihood of seeing cetaceans.
The New Zealand Ministry of Tourism has produced estimates for whale and dolphin watch tourism in a
recent nature‐based tourism report 57 . Data taken from the International Visitor Survey and Domestic Travel
Survey indicate international and domestic visitors undertook 266,000 whale and dolphin watching and
swimming experiences in 2006. Furthermore, a PhD candidate at Massey University, Emmanuelle Martinez,
in conjunction with the New Zealand Department of Conservation offices, estimated that in 2007 there were
310,878 dedicated whale and dolphin watchers in the country.
We estimate in 2008 there were approximately 360,000 dedicated cetacean watchers in addition to 186,000
opportunistic watchers, suggesting some continuing growth in the numbers of core whale watch tourists
compared with the 2007 estimate from the Massey University PhD candidate (see the methodology section
for more information on this distinction and its impact on indirect expenditure).
To highlight the importance of cetaceans to New Zealand tourism, one operator explained that by changing
the name of one of their boat tours to emphasise whales and dolphins explicitly, a significant surge in
customer demand was experienced immediately.
Clearly, the opportunity to see cetaceans is a strong motivation for many of New Zealand’s tourists.
Region Number of whale AAGR
watchers
58 Number of Direct Indirect Total
operators expenditure expenditure expenditure
North Island 147,364 5.8% 34 $11,902,600 $16,779,022 $28,681,622
South Island 399,080 6.8% 52 $22,156,145 $30,080,775 $52,236,920
Total (2008) 546,445 9% 86 $34,058,745 $46,859,797 $80,918,542
Total (1998) 230,000 >50 $7,503,000 $41,233,000 $48,736,000
Below we have included a regional breakdown of the main whale watching locations across the north and
south islands of New Zealand. The data in the following sections reflect regional proportions of the above
total number of whale watchers for the entire country.
57 Ministry of Tourism, ‘Tourism Sector Profile: Nature‐Based Tourism, Series B3’, accessed April 2008, available online
at: http://www.tourismresearch.govt.nz/Data‐‐Analysis/Tourism‐Sector‐Profiles/Tourist‐Activity‐Profiles/Nature‐Based‐
Tourism‐/
58 AAGR from 1998 to 2008
187