Birdwatching tourism has exploded in the last decade, mainly because of the increasing desire for sustainable outdoor travel, which provides a deeper connection with nature. Other factors, such as discovering new destinations, seeing as many bird species as possible and meeting new people have supported this trend as well.
The rise of technology, such as the eBird app, which receives more than 100 million bird sightings from around the world, also makes it much easier to connect with other birdwatchers. This lets them participate in communities, share observations, as well as swap pictures and destination recommendations.
However, birdwatching tourism also supports biodiversity and ecological conservation, helping protect fragile ecosystems and vulnerable bird species, especially short-range and endemic species.
But are all countries benefiting equally from the rise of birdwatching tourism?
New research from the University of California, Santa Cruz, using data from the eBird app, analyses birdwatching tourism growth across 155 countries, as well as the sociological and ecological factors affecting it.
The study found that four major factors influence birdwatching tourism: the number of small-range bird species, total bird biodiversity, the Global Peace Index and the Human Development Index.
The results? Birdwatching tourism benefits may be disproportionately concentrated in only a few global destinations.
Colombia and South Africa top birdwatching tourism destinations
Birdwatching tourism can have great sustainable development benefits, especially in tropical countries which boast large numbers of unique bird species and high bird biodiversity. As many of these countries are usually underdeveloped economically, tourism revenue can have a far-reaching impact, especially in rural areas.
Colombia is one such example of a country which has seen a positive impact from birdwatching tourism. The country had 40 times more overall birding days reported in 2022 than in 2010, according to eBird data. It was also the top spot for birdwatching tourists from 2010 to 2022.
“We had long wondered about birdwatching as a way to achieve both conservation and economic development. Over the years, we’ve seen Colombia really explode as a birdwatching destination, and we often asked ourselves why more countries aren’t similarly recognised as great places for birdwatching,” Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela, lead author of the new UC Santa Cruz study, said.
The second most frequented destination for birdwatchers from 2010 to 2022 was South Africa. Other countries across Western Europe, and Canada had a disproportionately high number of visitors, compared to their bird capital, which is the number of bird species in the region.
Countries like Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador and Australia had both high levels of bird capital, as well as high visitor numbers.
On the other hand, other tropical countries like Venezuela, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bolivia, Madagascar and Papua New Guinea had disproportionately few birdwatching tourists. In many of these countries, their share of worldwide birding tourism was either flat or decreasing.
Bird capital is not the highest priority for birdwatchers
One of the biggest reasons for the disparity in birdwatching tourism among different countries is that high bird capital is not the most important factor for visitors anymore.
Although the prospect of seeing many different interesting and small-range birds in one trip is still very enticing, visitors are increasingly prioritising destinations which also offer safety measures for tourism and basic infrastructure at least, like Colombia.
Colombia, which has the highest number of bird species in the world, at almost 2,000, also offers good birdwatching infrastructure. This includes protected reserves, eco lodges and local guides, although the level of services and infrastructure can differ by region.
The country has also focused significantly on birdwatching tourism and ecotourism as a whole in the last few years, launching a highly successful marketing campaign for the same as well.
Similarly, Costa Rica, another popular birdwatching destination, is already well-known for ecotourism. It is considered a pioneer in building a green economy by investing in dedicated tourism safety, infrastructure and guides as well.
Countries like Mexico benefit from relatively good public perception by US birdwatching tourists, who make up the bulk of this tourism category.
On the other hand, countries with low birdwatching tourism like Venezuela and DRC can lack basic tourism infrastructure in many areas, while also dealing with a number of socioeconomic, safety, political and health issues which may deter tourists.
According to the UC Santa Cruz study, a country’s Human Development Index accounted for 41.4 per cent of the difference in visitation between destinations, whereas its relative small-range bird species richness made up 15.3 per cent.
While the total species richness of a country accounted for 22.4 per cent of the tourism variation, its relative Global Peace Index made up 1.4 per cent.
How can countries better attract birdwatching tourism?
One of the key ways in which countries can position themselves as better birdwatching destinations is by developing better tourism infrastructure.
An encouraging factor is that for many developing tropical countries with high crime or conflict levels, tourists don’t care so much about overall country development and safety as they do about the safety of the specific tourism areas they want to visit.
This means that these countries can start by focusing on increasing safety and development of tourism infrastructure in only those particular tourist areas, to hopefully see a boost in birdwatching and ecotourism numbers.
Other measures to boost birding tourism could include subsidies, tax abatements or loans to build birding infrastructure such as trails, canopy towers or hides. Countries can focus on the conservation of bird habitats, local guide training and encouraging certification programs as well. Sustainable, community-led tourism businesses could be offered a range of tax benefits, too.
Taking local and Indigenous community perspectives and wishes into account before developing eco tourism, as well as prioritising long-term sustainability gains over short-term extraction industry profits, are crucial in developing birdwatching tourism facilities as well.