Aggressive shark displays: a quantitative analysis of its impact on shark tourism

ABSTRACT

Shark tourism is considered a type of enjoyable and exciting ecotourism that can simultaneously be effective in protecting sharks. However, the human fear of sharks may affect the level of interest in shark tourism. The present study investigated the effect of viewing images/videos of aggressive sharks on people’s interest in shark tourism. For this purpose, Participants were asked to rate their preference for the type of outdoor recreation, action mode, and encounter activity in shark tourism, level of trust in shark tourism, and covariates related to cost, distance travelled, waiting time, and desired number of shark visits in each tour. The experimental treatments of the study included viewing a picture/film (or animation) of an aggressive shark display (ASD) and a peaceful shark display (PSD). Our results indicated that viewing images or videos of aggressive sharks may negatively affect tourists’ interest levels in shark tourism, particularly in activities including physical contact. Also, the exposed individuals had less confidence in the safety of shark tourism and opted for lower tour charges. Nevertheless, prior information can mitigate the detrimental influence of the aforementioned aspect on attitude.

KEYWORDS:

• Selachophobia
• tourism
• knowledge
• interest
• aggressive shark display

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the participants for their contribution.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) under Grant [number 98002969].