How can wildlife tourism best serve wildlife conservation?

At the coming national conference on wildlife tourism (Wild Benefits) on the Gold Coast Australia, September 1st-3rd 2010 I’ll be leading a half-day workshop on ‘Walking the Walk’.  We often talk about the benefits of wildlife tourism to conservation, and many are making it happen in a variety of ways.  How can others involved in wildlife-related tourism – whether running a tour company, a wildlife park, an ecolodge or a farmstay – get started, and how can those already doing so most effectively increase their support of wildlife conservation?

You may like to read  Higginbottom, K., Northrope, C. and Green, R. J. 2001. The Positive Effects of Wildlife Tourism on Wildlife. Wildlife Tourism Research Report Series No. 6, Status Assessment of Wildlife Tourism in Australia Series, CRC for Sustainable Tourism

Do you think wildlife tourism can be of real benefit to wildlife conservation?  How? Would you like to share what you know about attempts that have worked well (and those that haven’t – they are all learning experiences), or ideas on new ways of making it happen? Please feel free to leave comments on this post, and of course please consider registering for the conference and joining in this and other discussions!

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