The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), Digital Traveler ~ Asia Pacific eNewsletter, December 2006

www.ecotourism.org

Whale Watching and Tourism in Tonga

By Allan Bowe, Owner and Operator,
Whale Watch Vava'u & Mounu Island Resort

Whale Watch Vava’u1 pioneered swimming with the humpback whales commencing
operations in 1993. From a zero base, the industry has now grown to become a major
tourist attraction for the Kingdom generating in excess of US$2.5 million annually and
growing.

Tonga is one of only two countries in the world where it is legal to swim with the whales.
The Tongan Government, after receiving submissions from the Tongan Whale Watch
Operators Association and a number of NGOs recently approved regulations governing
behavior with the whales, limiting the number of licensed operators and the number of
boats operating. This has helped ensuring minimal impacts whilst ensuring maximum
exposure.

This past season, Wale Watch Vava’u experienced significant growth in the number of
Japanese tourists participating in the whale watching trips, which is interesting given the
Japanese government’s announcement earlier this year to extend the country’s whaling to
include 50 humpback whales.

Humpback Whales

Each year a group of humpback whales leave their Antarctic feeding grounds and migrate
to the warm waters of Tonga. At birth humpback whale calves have little body fat and
would not survive in the icy waters of Antarctica, hence the annual return to our warm
waters for birthing and mating. (Source: Whale Watch Vava’u2)

Whale Watching in Tonga

In 1978 the King of Tonga banned whaling by Royal Decree in all of Tonga’s waters.
This decision predated the moratorium on commercial whaling by the International
Whaling Commission (IWC) by eight years. Over its 50 year lifetime one whale alone is
estimated to generate more than one million US$ in direct income from whale
watching. Whales are now a centerpiece of Tonga’s tourism industry and Tonga has
continued to effectively conserve all cetaceans in its waters through national laws and the
responsible actions taken by the Tongan Government to manage whale watching
tourism. (Source: IFWA Press Release3)

1
www.whalewatchvavau.com
2
http://www.whalewatchvavau.com/whales.html
3
www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oid=179010