Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, Isle of Mull, UK

• Main Authors: E. C. M. Parsons, C. A. Warburton, A. Woods-ballard, A. Hughes, P. Johnston, H. Bates
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Whale-watching; whale-watchers; tourism; Scotland; Mull; Watchers; minke whale
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.584.3101; http://www.whaledolphintrust.co.uk/cust_images/research publications/whalewatchingtourists.pdf

In 2000, a survey was conducted on whale-watching tourists in west Scotland. Slightly more females went whale-watching than expected and generally whale-watchers were middle-aged, although there was a notable proportion of younger participants. Whale-watchers were more likely to be accompanied by children than general tourists. Whale-watchers were also predominantly middle-class and well-educated. Most (83.8%) were British, a quarter of which were Scottish. Seventy per-cent were repeat visitors to the area. Sixty-two per cent of whale-watchers stated that they were on their rst whale-watching trip, and of those who had been whale-watching before, the majority (43.3%) had done so in the UK (90.4 % in Scotland). Most whale-watchers (81.4%) had previously been aware of the occurrence of cet-aceans in West Scotland and 75.2 % could correctly name at least one local species; the most commonly cited species being the minke whale (31.7%). However, fewer than half of the tourists were aware of whale-watching opportunities in the region and 40 % of whale-watchers had only become aware of whale-watching opportunities when they arrived in the area, demonstrating a need to publicise and promote the availability of whale-watching trips in West Scotland.