Estimating the impact of whaling on global whale-watching

After the commercial whaling moratorium was enacted in 1986, whale-watching became one of the fastest growing tourism industries worldwide. As whaling was regarded as an activity that is incompatible with whale-watching, the possible resumption of commercial whaling caused an urgent need to investigate the potential negative effects of whaling on the whale-watching industry. We examine the potential impacts of whaling on the global whale-watching tourism industry using an unbalanced panel data model. The empirical results indicate that the resumption of commercial whaling has the potential for a negative effect on the global whale-watching industry, especially for nations that are engaged in commercial whaling.

► The potential impacts of whaling on the global whale-watching tourism are examined.
► Delay-difference equation model is applied to simulate the population change for minke whale.
► The statistics of worldwide tourism data sets for years 1991, 1994, 1998, and 2009 were collected.
► The results show that the resumption of whaling has negative effect on the global whale-watching.