Wildlife Tourism: Impacts, Management, and Planning

Wildlife Tourism: Impacts, Management, and Planning Karen Higginbottom (ed), 2004 Common Ground Publishing, Pty. Ltd. xiv + 277 pp. ISBN 1-86335-545-6 (print), 1-86335548-0 (pdf) RRP: AUD $89.95 Available from: Sustainable Tourism CRC5 PMB 50 Gold Coast MC, Queensland, Australia 9726.

THE publishers of this edited volume rightly claim that it should be required reading for a varied audience interested in wildlife tourism including tourism professionals, wildlife managers, recreation managers, researchers, and general readers with an interest in the role of wildlife tourism. I volunteered to review this book, since I readily confess to being a wildlife tourist at times, and I was curious as to the inner workings of the industry. This volume provides an eye-opening viewpoint on wildlife tourism to someone outside the field.

The editor does an admirable job of pulling together a range of papers pertinent to wildlife tourism and provides introductory and closing chapters which lay out the groundwork and puts all the other chapters in context. Similarly, the contributing authors each present a thorough overview of the industry and offer guidelines on areas where the profession could develop and expand in future.

The book is divided into three main parts devoted to the wildlife tourism industry, the impacts of wildlife tourism, and managing and planning wildlife tourism. Within these, there is a wide array of topics covering everything from wildlife watching, the role of zoos, and consumptive wildlife tourism (a euphemism for hunting and fishing) to the positive and negative effects of wildlife tourism on wildlife, conservation, and host communities, the economics, marketing and business of wildlife tourism, and strategic planning for the industry movers and shakers. While I initially intended to skim over some of the chapters that I thought would be a bit dry (marketing, business planning), I actually found each of the chapters was quite readable and informative if not downright absorbing. While reading through this book, I could not help but reflect on some of my own previous experiences...