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.

Keywords:

• wildlife tourism
• rhino poaching
• impact
• South Africa

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support of the South African National Parks, the Department of Environmental Affairs, the Global Environment Fund and the United Nations Environment Programme.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Elizabeth Ann du Preez http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8144-1999

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by SANParks, UNEP, GEF, Department of Environmental Affairs.