The impact of rhino poaching on tourist experiences and future visitation to National Parks in South Africa

Abstract

Wildlife tourism attracts substantial numbers of tourists worldwide with Africa as the major wildlife viewing destination earning the bulk of its tourism revenue from such tourism. Iconic animals, such as the rhino, are major attractions for tourists to South Africa who holds approximately 80% of the World's rhino population. However the rapid increase in rhino poaching activities has reached a crisis point and should the rate of poaching continue to increase Africa's remaining rhino population will become extinct in the wild within 20 years. How this affects tourists and tourism is still largely unknown. This study shows evidence that rhino poaching and anti-poaching measures do impact tourism in the short term and could affect future visitation to Parks.

Using palaeoecology to explore the resilience of southern African savannas

“…Grazing lawns are open habitats similar to water-scarce grasslands, but they are maintained by mega-herbivores, particularly white rhino. Their continued existence will therefore be threatened by the ongoing illegal killing of rhino (Lubbe et al 2017;Waldram et al 2007). The loss of open, grassy landscapes has implications for grazers and other flora and fauna adapted to these environments Parr et al 2014).…”

“…With faster growth under higher CO 2 conditions, trees can grow more rapidly, escape the fire trap and join the ranks of adult tree classes . This effect is currently being exacerbated by escalating illegal hunting of mega-herbivores, historically important in keeping tree canopies open (Bennett 2014;Lubbe et al 2017;Wittemyer et al 2014).…”

“…As mega-herbivores such as rhino continue to decline in African savannas because of illegal hunting (Bennett 2014;Lubbe et al 2017;Wittemyer et al 2014), we might expect the number of grazing lawns to decrease (Archibald et al 2005;Waldram et al 2007). Beyond a threshold of woody plant density, densely wooded areas may also create barriers for fire by shading out grass biomass and creating discontinuities in the fuel layer, which would further enhance recruitment of woody taxa .…”

Last Chance Tourism in South Africa

“…Th erefore, southern African countries have struck agreements to enhance the region's biodiversity by establishing a variety of transfrontier parks, to allow greater possibility of natural migration patterns of animals to be reestablished (Ferreira, 2014;Ferreira & Harmse, 1999;Hoogendoorn et al, 2019). Despite the good intentions of advancing the biodiversity in these parks, wildlife has been threatened by a variety of issues of which poaching is the most publicized example (Lubbe et al, 2019). Th e poaching of white and black rhinos in the Kruger National Park and other national parks in the country is of particular concern (Hü bschle, 2017).…”

Can Animals Be the Key to the Development of Tourism: A Case Study of Livestock in Agritourism

“…Regardless of the geographical region or wildlife, observing, photographing, or having direct contact with wild animals has always been the aim of travels for individuals who value interactions with animals. An example may be trips to Africa organised to observe the so-called “Africa’s big five animals” [ 18 ], gorillas [ 19 ], and cetaceans [ 20 ] and to participate in birdwatching, which is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world [ 21 ]. Tourists are capable of negatively affecting animal welfare, as evidenced in the study by Moorhouse et al [ 10 ].…”