ABSTRACT
The signifi cance of the consumptive wildlife tourism industry was brought home to me one day when I interrupted my son playing a hunting game on our home computer. The game involves selecting a fi rearm (with the option of customising it), mode of transport, hunting guides and other accoutrements, and most importantly – choosing your hunting destination. This particular game offered various hunting destinations from North America, Australasia, Asia and Africa. Each hunting destination offers its unique challenge to the player in terms of game species, terrain, season and regulations. While ‘just’ a virtual game, obviously the game maker draws on an understanding of hunting and, indeed, the social, political and biological constraints acting upon the consumptive wildlife tourist. But more importantly, the game refl ects the global nature of CWT. As the contributors to this book have demonstrated, CWT deals with complex and challenging experiences, and despite its ‘niche’ status, is a signifi cant sector with strong global connections and potential to contribute to sustainable outcomes in a large range of destinations.
