Whale Watching Worldwide

Types of tours: Day boat trips from resorts and cruises.
Average ticket price: $75 for day trips, less from cruises.
Estimated employment
numbers:
1
Main whale watch season: October to May
Acknowledgements:
Thanks to one operator, the Kido Project on Cariacou and one resort.
Guadeloupe and islands (including St. Martin and St. Barthélemy)
Year Number of
whale
watchers
AAGR Number of
operators
Direct
expenditure
Indirect
expenditure
Total
expenditure
1991 None N/A None None None None
1994 Minimal N/A N/A Minimal Minimal Minimal
1998 400 N/A 3 $13,000 $10,000 $23,000
2008 3,650 24.7% 2 $283,000 $548,000 $831,000
Capital City: Basse‐Terre
Two main operators undertake trips to watch whales in
Guadeloupe. Cetaceans are accessible for most of the year,
including pantropical spotted dolphins as well as sperm whales,
pygmy sperm whales, humpback whales and short‐finned pilot
whales.
The two main operators are responsible for a rapid expansion in the
numbers of whale watch tourists in the last decade, when the whale
watching activities had just begun, growing at an average rate of
25% per annum to nearly 4,000 tourists in 2008.
Despite humpback whales travelling past St. Barthélemy, there was no indication of any operator
undertaking regular whale watching trips. In previous studies, one dedicated operator had been identified in
this location.
Main species: Large cetaceans:
humpback whale, sperm whale, pygmy sperm
whale
Small cetaceans:
Pantropical spotted dolphin, short‐finned pilot
whale
Tourists:
International N/A
Domestic
Types of tours: Boat‐based
Average adult ticket price: $96
Estimated employment
2
numbers:
Main whale watch season: Year round
253