The Elephant Tourism Business

336 Pages·2020·3.623 MB·English

by  Noel Scott (editor), Xavier Font (editor), John Koldowski (editor)

The Elephant
The Elephant T
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Tourism Business

Tourism Business E
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Edited by Eric Laws, Noel Scott, Edited by Eric Laws, Noel Scott,
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Xavier Font and John Koldowski Xavier Font and John Koldowski
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Elephant tourism is a growing activity in many countries across Asia and
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Africa and is popular with tourists from all parts of the world. Elephants in the
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wild are at risk of extinction and exposed to poaching and habitat loss, while
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captive elephants too often face harsh training to entertain tourists and poor
welfare conditions. Elephant tourism has grown rapidly, providing the only r
i
viable way for elephants and their owners to survive since the banning of s
logging. Old logging camps have been developed into sanctuaries for some m
elephants, but many other camps were established as entertainment centres,
resulting in serious welfare issues for the elephants and their mahouts. The
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profits from elephant tourism in Asia have encouraged African operators to
follow a similar business model. u
s
This book draws attention to the need for a comprehensive and rigorous focus
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on local solutions to improve the welfare of captive elephants, their mahouts n
and local residents, and to enhance tourists’ experiences of elephant tourism.
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It achieves this by:
s
• Critically reviewing recent research into elephant tourism. s
• Providing contemporary analytical case studies of elephant tourism
policy and practice.
The Elephant Tourism Business will contribute to a better understanding of
how elephant tourism is organised, regulated and promoted, both in elephant
areas and tourist origin countries. It identifies priorities for future research
Laws
into elephant tourism and provides a unique, authoritative resource for
Scott
researchers, elephant managers and administrators, and tourism managers.
Font
The book will be of interest to academics and practitioners with backgrounds Koldowski
in conservation, the environment, tourism and veterinary sciences, and will
appeal to tourists keen to experience elephants in person.
Front cover image credit: Vladi Korn
Space for bar code with
ISBN included
T e T B
he lephanT ourism usiness
Photo by Alokparna Sengupta (Chapter 12). Alokparna is the Interim Managing Director for
Humane Society International, India.
T e T
he lephanT ourism
B
usiness
Edited by
Eric Laws
Noel Scott
Xavier Font
and
John Koldowski
CABI is a trading name of CAB International
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References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library, London, UK.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Laws, Eric, 1945- editor. | Scott, Noel, 1958- editor. | Font,
Xavier, editor. | Koldowski, John, editor.
Title: The elephant tourism business / edited by Eric Laws, Noel Scott,
Xavier Font and John Koldowski.
Description: First Edition. | Boston : CAB International, 2020. | Includes
bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Elephant tourism is a
growing attraction across Asia and Africa and is popular with many
tourists. This book highlights the need for a comprehensive and rigorous
focus on local solutions to improve the welfare of captive elephants and
tourists’ experiences of elephant tourism, which will be to the benefit
of local communities”-- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020023986 (print) | LCCN 2020023987 (ebook) | ISBN
9781789245868 (Hardback) | ISBN 9781789245875 (eBook) | ISBN
9781789245882 (ePub)
Subjects: LCSH: Ecotourism. | Captive elephants. | Endangered species. |
Wildlife-related recreation industry--Moral and ethical aspects. |
Wildlife watching--Moral and ethical aspects.
Classification: LCC G156.5.E26 E47 2020 (print) | LCC G156.5.E26 (ebook)
| DDC 338.4/7915--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020023986
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020023987
ISBN-13: 9781789245868 (hardback)
9781789245875 (ePDF)
9781789245882 (ePub)
Commissioning Editor: Claire Parfitt
Editorial Assistant: Lauren Davies
Production Editor: Tim Kapp
Typeset by Exeter Premedia Services Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in the UK by Severn, Gloucester
Contents
Foreword ix
Preface xi
Contributors xiii
Elephant Tourism Glossary xxv
An Elephant Portrait Gallery xxxi
Photos by contributors
Introduction to The Elephant Tourism Business 1
John Koldowski, Eric Laws, Noel Scott and Xavier Font
Section 1 – Personal Experiences of Elephant Tourism 17
1. Managing the Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp:
Eric Laws Interviews John Roberts 19
2. PATA and Jetwing: John Koldowski Interviews Chi Lo and
Senal Siriwardene 32
3. The Elephant in the Room: An Autoethnographic Approach 38
Vinathe Sharma-Brymer and Eric Brymer
Section 2 – Expectations and Experiences of Interactions
with Elephants 49
4. Drivers of Elephant Tourism in Thailand 51
Bongkosh Rittichainuwat, Noel Scott and Eric Laws
5. Visitor Expectations and Behaviours at Elephant Camps 64
Saranphat Chotmanakul and Somyot Ongkhluap
v
vi Contents
6. Alternative Forms of Elephant Tourism 73
Susanna Curtin and Charlotte Day
7. Elephant Visitor Preferences and Experiences in Sri Lanka 85
Ramona Strödecke and Nicole Häusler
Section 3 – Ethical and Moral Perspectives 97
8. Moral Tensions for Elephant Visitors 99
Anja Pabel and Mucha Mkono
9. The Valuation of Ethical Encounters with Elephants 111
Qingming Cui and Honggang Xu
10. Community Collaboration, Elephant Conservation and
Protection 123
Liv Baker, Sarah Blaine and Rebecca Winkler
11. Conservation-Based Elephant Tourism: An
Importance–Performance Analysis 134
Daminda Sumanapala, Nilakshi W.K. Galahitiyawe and Isabelle D. Wolf
Section 4 – Frameworks for Modern Elephant Tourism Management 147
12. The Effectiveness of Elephant Welfare Regulations in India 149
Sumanth Bindumadhav, Alokparna Sengupta and Shilpa Mahbubani
13. Elephant Tourism Conservation and the Need for a
New Strategy: Thai Stakeholder Attitudes 160
Ann Suwaree Ashton
14. Elephant Tourism, the ABTA Animal Welfare Guidelines 170
Clare Jenkinson
Section 5 – Elephants and Their Stories 177
15. A Case Study of Elephant Venue Narratives 179
Jeffrey Dale Hobbs and Piengpen Na Pattalung
16. The Valuation of Elephant Sightings in Protected Areas 191
Andrea Saayman and Melville Saayman
17. Social Media: A Proxy Voice for Elephants 204
Kannapa Pongponrat and Naphawan Chantradoan
Section 6 – What Next? Proxy Voices for Elephants 217
18. Modernizing Human–Elephant Interactions 219
Andrew McLean
19. Validating a Captive Elephant Welfare Index 232
Vivek Gurusamy and Clive Phillips
Contents vii
20. Promoting Elephant-Friendly Tourism 247
Marjorie van Strien and Jan Schmidt-Burbach
21. The Paradox of Elephant-Friendly Tourism 259
Daniel Turner and Naut Kusters
Postscript: COVID-19 and Elephant Tourism, a Preliminary
Analysis 269
Eric Laws, John Koldowski, Xavier Font, Noel Scott, Taweepoke
Angkawanish, Nina Brask, Daniel Turner, Bongkosh Rittichainuwat,
Suphaporn Rattanaphinanchai and John Roberts
Conclusion 276
Xavier Font, Noel Scott, John Koldowski and Eric Laws
Index 289

Foreword
Travelling to see elephants may evoke the awesome feeling of being stared at
wisely by these ancient animals, or the folkloric wisdom of their c omplex social
behaviour: in fact, only whales and primates can be compared in that respect.
However, this study looks into the evolution of the means of production
and consumption behind this African and Asian ‘rite of travel passage’. It
demonstrates the transition from a colonial to an immersive and community-
based form of tourism, integrated in many countries’ development plans, and
from an eccentricity to a vital sector in several regions’ economies. It positions
this well-known experience in the reality of a threatened opportunity in a time
of need: every elephant population lost to poachers today impacts the local
tourism industry, and, by aggregate, Africa’s and Asia’s economies.
The plight of the elephant is one of too many as we struggle to reverse the
unacceptable loss of biodiversity, our core development and wellbeing asset,
and prepare for the United Nations to determine the next 10-year global
biodiversity framework, the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention
on life on Earth in 2021. In their flagship role, elephants stand in for their
millions of unknown or uncelebrated relatives in this sixth extinction event.
The publication is very timely also as the COVID-19 pandemic, a long-
announced risk, has accelerated a financial, economic, political and social
shock whose causes are clearly associated with the root causes of unsustain-
able development and inequality, and whose implications we are all just
beginning to realize. The same mechanisms that define this crisis formed,
and will continue to affect, the elephant tourism sector. Travelling for leisure
is, as it has been in historical tradition, one of the first victims of any e conomic
shortfall, and arguably one of the first segments to re-engineer itself, in what
will turn out not to be the post-COVID, but the with-COVID world.
The countries that still hold viable populations of this keystone species
will continue to need them in the ‘new reality’ of the next decade, both for
ix