Environmental sustainability of consumptive and non-consumptive wildlife tourists: The case of a game reserve in Namibia

Abstract

Africa as a tourism destination is seen as a wildlife tourism hotspot that contributes significantly to job creation, community upliftment, and conservation. Wildlife tourism is based on encounters with non-domestic animals that can occur in either the animal’s natural environment or in captivity. The interaction with the animals includes activities that are historically classified as consumptive and non-consumptive. This research aims to determine the environmental impacts of wildlife tourists (consumptive and non-consumptive) based on their behaviour as perceived by senior staff managing a game reserve in Namibia. The study applied qualitative research, namely interviews, to encapsulate in-depth information. From the results, it can be concluded that, although both consumptive and non-consumptive wildlife tourists impact the environment at the game reserve, the behaviour of non-consumptive wildlife tourists seems to be more negative than that of consumptive wildlife tourists. The study further found that hunters behave in an eco-friendlier manner towards the environment and tend to be more concerned about their own impact on nature. Key words: Wildlife tourism impacts; environmental impact; natural area tourism; protected area tourism; wildlife tourism.