Whale Watching Worldwide

thouands. Through the 1990s, two reports for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society charted this
growth as it spread around the world, culminating in IFAW’s Whale Watching 2001 report (Hoyt 1992, 1995,
2001). The number of whale watchers grew from 4 million in 1991 to 5.4 million in 1994 to 9 million in 1998.
Now, in this latest IFAW report from Economists at Large, we can chart even further growth with 13 million
participants per year. How did it all happen? Perhaps the best way to understand this growth is to survey it
broadly over the five decades of this industry’s fairy‐tale blossoming during which it has expanded in size,
diversity and value.
After fisherman Chuck Chamberlin’s trips to see the gray whale migration in 1955, whale watching grew
slowly. Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s, whale watching focussed on this single predictable coastal
whale species, expanding slowly north along the California coast as the gray whales themselves migrated
and finally south to the gray whale breeding and calving lagoons of Baja California, México. The Mexican
excursions, departing from San Diego as they do to this day, were the first long‐range, multi‐day whale
watch trips (Hoyt 2008).
The ‘save‐the‐whales’ movement which started in California — and the first sign of the end of whaling in the
early 1970s (as the US, Canada, UK, New Zealand and Australia lay down their harpoons) — was helping to
precipitate whale watching growth. As whales began to return to coastal waters in greater numbers after
whaling ended, people increasingly went out to meet them. In 1971, whale watching jumped to the east
coast of North America, initially with educational field trips to the St. Lawrence River in Québec and, by
1975, to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. New England whale watching proved to be a key transition in the history
of whale watching. For the first time, scientists worked with ex‐fishermen and boat skippers to create high
quality, narrated whale watch tours that generated considerable repeat‐business. Over a 5‐6 month period
from spring to early autumn every year, an accessible offshore area called Stellwagen Bank proved to be a
reliable feeding ground for whale watcher‐friendly humpback whales and several other whale and dolphin
species. With a long season coinciding with peak summer trade and ready access to high volumes of tourists
that came to Cape Cod, Boston and nearby towns and cities, whale watching took off. By the mid‐1980s,
more than a dozen companies were in full operation and investing in purpose‐built boats. The numbers of
whale watchers surpassed California and México combined and soon climbed toward 1 million per year in
New England alone. Big business.
News of New England’s whale watching success spread around the world, recalling the way that New
England whaling had caught on a century or more earlier. By the early 1990s, whale watching had reached
31 countries and was poised for steep growth. Whale watching even spread to the whaling countries of
Japan and Norway. Whale watching was young, exciting and the best whale watching was building customer
satisfaction, through partnerships, for a long‐term successful business. Of course, some whale watching was
started without much planning, with poor or no guides and dismal customer care, but it was part of a fast
learning curve. The 1990s proved to be a decade of explosive growth in whale watching — 12% average
annual growth rate, about 3‐4 times the rate of overall tourism arrivals (Hoyt 2001). IFAW’s Whale Watching
2001 report charted this growth and looked forward to a strong, bright future in which the value of whale
watching would surely grow beyond all recognition from its earliest roots, providing a strong economic
incentive for conservation with the realization that whales were now worth far more alive than dead (Hoyt
and Hvenegaard 2002).
The first decade of the 21st century has indeed produced substantial growth but it has also taken us by
surprise with considerable ups and downs from overall tourism due to world events. The Sept. 11 th , 2001
hijackings and subsequent destruction of the World Trade Center led to a slow‐down in world travel with
repercussions felt particularly in long‐haul destinations. In some cases domestic whale watching tours may
have benefitted but overall tourism numbers declined until 2003 — coinciding with the sudden travel
concerns generated by the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) near‐pandemic. Fears were short‐
lived and, by 2004, tourism arrivals were back on track, although serious concerns have since arisen
regarding Bird flu, or Avian influenza, and the latest pandemic, swine flu.
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