The impact of tourism on gibbons: developing best practice guidelines from case studies in Cambodia and China

Abstract

Nature based tourism can be a useful tool for conserving areas of high biodiversity, but only if it is implemented using research-based best practice guidelines that ensure it is not inadvertently harming the very biodiversity it seeks to protect. Despite the existence of several gibbon focused tourism programs, there has been little investigation into the impact of tourist presence on the behaviour and physiological stress of gibbons. I collected observational behaviour data and faecal cortisol samples from the northern yellow-cheeked crested gibbon (Nomascus annamensis) at Veun Sai-Siem Pang National Park, Cambodia and the Skywalker hoolock gibbon (Hoolock tianxing) at Mt. Gaoligong National Nature Reserve, China with the aim of extending the IUCN's best practice guidelines for great ape tourism to include gibbons, the small apes. I found that individuals of both species exposed to tourism spent significantly more time scanning their environment at the cost of time spent resting when in the presence of tourists. N. annamensis gibbons also spent more time travelling and self-groomed more frequently when in the presence of tourists. Comparison of the activity budgets of H. tianxing exposed to tourists to those of individuals only exposed to small research teams showed the behavioural changes observed were restricted to periods when tourists were present. Overall, the daily distribution of time to behaviour was not different between the two groups suggesting that at its current intensity, tourism is allowing sufficient time for H. tianxing individuals to recuperate lost resting time. I conduced enzyme immune-assay analysis of faecal cortisol samples collected from adult individuals of both species and did not find a significant relationship between cortisol concentrations in samples and tourists visits.

As the success of nature-based tourism requires that all stakeholders are properly consulted and given the opportunity to be involved in managing the program I also interviewed local community members at Veun Sai-Siem Pang National Park and surveyed tourists at both sites who participated in the gibbon tourism programs. Local community members and tourists are two crucial stakeholders in NBT and through my interviews and surveys I was able to gain a better understanding of their expectations and experiences of the gibbon tourism programs. Responses of the local community members in Cambodia indicated that there is a disconnect between the program and the community, with many people not involved or having little to no knowledge of the program. Tourist survey responses from both sites suggest that while gibbons have the potential to be an effective flagship species, tourists are also interested in learning about local communities, the forest and other wildlife during the tour. Having access to a knowledgeable guide was important to the experience of tourists and appeared to have an impact on the tourist's awareness and support for conservation when the tour concluded.

Using these two case studies, I have produced the first guidelines for best practice gibbon tourism. These guidelines are designed as an extension to the best practice guidelines for great ape tourism to include the small apes. Findings from my PhD will make a significant contribution to my knowledge of these understudied species of ape and help both existing and new gibbon tourism programs to balance animal welfare with the demands of tourism and other stakeholders.