Tourist preferences for whale watching and rule changes in the Salish Sea

Wildlife tours are subject to many viewing restrictions, especially when viewing endangered species. Viewing regulations can impact demand for tours, local communities that depend upon tourism income, and the wildlife. We use a discrete choice experiment to estimate how changes in tour attributes af...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOcean & coastal management Vol. 269; p. 107830
Main Authors Schamp, Abby, Morzaria-Luna, Hem Nalini, Knox, Melissa, Anderson, Christopher M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2025
Subjects
Attribute non-attendance
Discrete choice experiment
Endangered species
Killer whales
Wildlife tour management
Willingness-to-pay
Wildlife tour management
Killer whales
Endangered species
Willingness-to-pay
Attribute non-attendance
Discrete choice experiment
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Summary:Wildlife tours are subject to many viewing restrictions, especially when viewing endangered species. Viewing regulations can impact demand for tours, local communities that depend upon tourism income, and the wildlife. We use a discrete choice experiment to estimate how changes in tour attributes affects Salish Sea tourist willingness to pay for whale watching tours. We find that tourists are willing to pay average ticket prices to view Southern Resident Killer Whales, transient killer whales, or humpback whales. Our results indicate that tourists are willing to pay the most to view orcas from a close viewing distance for at least 40 min with less boats in proximity. We estimate changes in ticket demand of up to 7% due to changes in tour whale viewing distance. [Display omitted]
ISSN:0964-5691
DOI:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2025.107830