3rd Year Special Annual Double Issue Vol 4 Issue 1 & 2 Jan - Apr 2 3rd Year Special Annual Double Issue Vol 4 Issue | Page 38

Can Wildlife Tourism Help Conserve Wildlife? Manjunath Gowda, CEO - WildTrails Kabini Black Panther Image Credit: Aravind Srinivasan I ndians and visitors to the subcontinent from overseas are finding time to venture into the wild to see firsthand wildlife that’s unique to the subcontinent. India is one of the largest countries in the world and boasts of a variety of ecosystems that are home to a number of different species. India has 75 national parks and 421 wildlife sanctuaries and is home to 360 species of mammals and 1,300 species of birds. The number of visitors to India’s national parks is growing at a rate of 20% to 30% every year and 70% of those who visit such parks are Indian. Some reasons behind such rapid growth are higher disposable incomes, the influence of social media, and an increasing appetite for experiential travel among Indians. Many of those who visit parks across India do so with the goal to see a tiger. Although visitors to such parks are happy to see all animals in their natural habitats, many comment they are most eager to see tigers. Benefits of Wildlife Tourism in India Wildlife tourism in India is booming and this has many benefits for tourists and wildlife. Of the lakhs of tourists who visit wildlife sanctuaries in India each spends on average 42,000 INR. The money spent by visitors to such parks not only helps to pay the salaries of those employed in such parks but also 38 Leopard Image Credit: Aravind Srinivasan helps keep parks pristine. The money spent also ensures that the parks are left alone and remain free of human encroachment. Even more importantly, tourists act like the guardians of wildlife. Tourists name the wild animals they see and they monitor such animals as well and if one such animal goes missing tourists do not rest until the concerned authorities find the animal. These are a few reasons why hardly any poaching happens in areas where many tourists regularly venture. If every region of all nationalparks were open to tourists there would be greater accountability from authorities. Today tourists see only 20% of a national park, if the entire park were opened to tourists then poaching would nose dive because tourists would be able to pressure the forest department to take better care of wildlife. In opening an entire national park to tourists, wildlife would benefit. Such opening up can happen in a round robin fashion as a forest can be divided into zones each of which is opened for a period of a few months thereby allowing tourists to visit the entire wildlife reserve. It’s human nature to care for what one sees and as a rule knowing precedes caring and caring precedes conservation, it’s that simple. When more and more tourists are allowed to see Vol 4 | Issue 1 |Jan - Feb 2019