Whale Watching Worldwide

USA
Year Number of
whale
watchers
AAGR Number of
operators
Direct
expenditure
Indirect
expenditure
Total
expenditure
1991 3,243,025 N/A 145 $37,506,000 $155,424,000 $192,930,000
1994 3,600,000 3.5% 220 $41,632,000 $172,520,000 $214,152,000
1998 4,316,537 4.6% 268 $158,385,000 $198,635,000 $357,020,000
2008 4,899,809 1.3% 459 $508,672,475 $447,942,829 $956,615,304
Capital City: Washington, DC
The United States remains the largest whale watching industry in
the world, with nearly 5 million whale watchers and total
expenditure of nearly $1 billion in 2008. Many parts of the USA
have reached maturity – as predicted in the Whale Watching 2001
report (Hoyt, 2001) – and have shown minimal growth, or even
declines. However, growth in Alaska, Florida and the Gulf States has
expanded the industry as a whole since 1998.
The following sections describe whale watching in the different
regions across the USA.
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