Wildlife Tourism in Southern Africa: Prospects for Sustainability

In many regions of the world, wildlife tourism is a popular form of ecotourism (Mangachena & Pickering, 2021; Newsome & Rodger, 2013). According to Novelli et al. (2006), wildlife-based tourism flourished in the mid-1960s due to the affordability of travel, more interest in nature and wildlife conservation, and Western tourists getting access to remote, unspoiled areas; this encouraged the development of a diverse African wildlife tourism sector. Wildlife tourism is a form of nature- based tourism based on encounters with wild animals; it can be consumptive or non-consumptive (Lovelock, 2008). It is a global activity of significance which forms a fundamental part of the world’s massive nature-based tourism industry (Cong et al., 2017). Wildlife tourism is one of the prominent foreign exchange earners in numerous countries, especially those from the African continent (Novelli et al., 2006; Reynolds & Braithwaite, 2001). The UNWTO (2015) indicates the significance of wildlife tourism, with 80% of international travel to the sub-Saharan Africa being wildlife related.