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
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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