International Journal of
Biodiversity and Conservation

  • Abbreviation: Int. J. Biodivers. Conserv.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 2141-243X
  • DOI: 10.5897/IJBC
  • Start Year: 2009
  • Published Articles: 681

Article in Press

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY OF CONSUMPTIVE AND NON-CONSUMPTIVE WILDLIFE TOURISTS: THE CASE OF A GAME RESERVE IN NAMIBIA

PEET VAN DER MERWE, Elmarie Slabbert, Machiel Koch

  •  Received: 30 August 2021
  •  Accepted: 11 November 2021
Africa as a tourism destination is seen as a wildlife tourism hotspot that contributes significantly to job creation, community upliftment, and conservation. Wildlife tourism is based on encounters with non-domestic animals that can occur in either the animal’s natural environment or in captivity. The interaction with the animals includes activities that are historically classified as consumptive and non-consumptive. This research aims to determine the environmental impacts of wildlife tourists (consumptive and non-consumptive) based on their behaviour as perceived by senior staff managing a game reserve in Namibia. The study applied qualitative research, namely interviews, to encapsulate in-depth information. From the results, it can be concluded that, although both consumptive and non-consumptive wildlife tourists impact the environment at the game reserve, the behaviour of non-consumptive wildlife tourists seems to be more negative than that of consumptive wildlife tourists. The study further found that hunters behave in an eco-friendlier manner towards the environment and tend to be more concerned about their own impact on nature.

Keywords: wildlife tourism impacts; environmental impact; natural area tourism; protected area tourism; wildlife tourism