ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the spotlight is on tourism that places value in the conservation (saving for use) or preservation (saving from use) of animals in the wild. As Knight argues, “Wildlife tourists watch the lives of wild animals, whereas hunters take the lives of wild animals.” The watching of animals for recreational purposes in in situ and ex situ settings and venues is not new. Although the Romans enjoyed the spectacle of animal struggle and death in the arena, they also enjoyed viewing animals in different vivaria, including aviaries, fishponds, and parks. However, the enjoyment of nature on nature’s terms or for nature’s sake corresponds to a different type of relationship—a different type of consumption—of animals. Finding the care for nature waning in contemporary man during the 1950s scholars argue that tourism could be a way of arousing the love for and protection of nature. Over 70 years later, thriving ecotourism and wildlife tourism industries spread their tentacles all over the globe in the arrangement of products for an ever-expanding market of interested tourists. What is attractive about wildlife tourism, in consumptive and non-consumptive forms, is that tourists often stay longer and spend more money at destinations. Furthermore, the sector is dominated by small enterprises in remote and rural regions, thus contributing economically to these more peripheral areas.
