Whale Watching Worldwide

mainland Pacific coast around Puerto Vallarta and Bahía de Banderas operators target humpback whales,
bottlenose dolphins, pantropical spotted dolphins, spinner dolphins, and false killer whales.
On the Yucatán peninsula dolphin watching is mainly opportunistic. Participants in whale shark tours often
encounter bottlenose dolphins.
As México’s whale watching has been established for over twenty years, many high quality operations have
developed. Guidelines and regulations exist in many of the main whale watching areas with some level of
enforcement. However, there is a substantial amount of casual, unreported whale watching outside the
main ports. The unit price for these trips is lower and trips do not include naturalists or guides. Research in
México suggests that many tourists would be willing to pay more if higher quality trips were available.
The whale watch communities in México run several whale‐focused events, such as the Festival
Internacional de la Ballena Gris (International Festival of the Gray Whale) in late February in Puerto San
Carlos on Magdalena Bay in southern Baja. Other festivals are at nearby Puerto Adolfo López Mateos in
Estero Soledad held every January and in April a festival celebrating the end of the whale watch season is
held at Laguna San Ignacio.
All in all, this is a country with a substantial whale watching industry. Estimates for 2008 numbers based on
past rates of growth suggest the industry accounts for total expenditure of nearly $100 million from over
190,000 whale watchers. Recent reports from local in‐country researchers indicate that actual growth to
2008 well surpassed even this projected level, with the country having witnessed exceptionally strong
growth in the last two years. Additional research is reportedly in process to ascertain the exact total figures.
Main species: Large cetaceans:
blue whale, Bryde’s whale, fin whale, gray
whale, humpback whale, minke whale
Small cetaceans:
bottlenose dolphin, short‐beaked common
dolphin, long‐beaked common dolphin, false
killer whale, pantropical spotted dolphin,
spinner dolphin
Tourists:
International 70‐75%
Domestic 25‐30%
Types of tours: Cruise ships, local boat‐based trips and land‐
based watching.
Average adult ticket price: $53
Estimated employment
412
numbers:
Main whale watch season: December to March
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to José Antonio Casis and Marisol Rivera Planter.
References:
This is a summary from the 2008 report by Hoyt and Iñíguez (below), for more details, please refer to this report.
Projections for 2008 are based on past rates of growth taken from the 2008 report:
Hoyt, E & Iñíguez, M 2008, ‘The State of Whale Watching in Latin America’, WDCS, Chippenham, UK; IFAW, Yarmouth
Port, USA; and Global Ocean, London, 60 pp..
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