Wait to promote high sighting rates of wildlife in tourism: Evidence from a Wildlife Disturbance Experiment

Ecotourism is often viewed as a mutually beneficial solution for both people and nature; however, unregulated wildlife tourism can inadvertently harm the wildlife. To enhance management practices, we conducted a study on rabbit tourism involving Amami rabbits (Pentalagus furnessi) which can be sighted by car driving at a Natural World Heritage Site in Japan. Because the sighting rate of wildlife under different car schedules and in varying density scenarios remains unknown, our study employed wildlife disturbance experiments and model simulation to estimate the recovery rate of rabbits after being flushed by tourists in different density and car schedule scenarios. Our analysis revealed that implementing a 20-minute time lag for the following car resulted in a 90% recovery rate for Amami rabbits. Additionally, adhering to a regular car schedule provided an increase in sighting rates of the rabbit compared to random and normal schedules by approximately 1.85 and 2.4 times, respectively, under optimal conditions (maximum density and 50 cars). Finally, we evaluated the profitability of the tourism industry under different densities of rabbits and rates of the money-back guarantee. Though introducing more cars appears to generate greater profits, it may simultaneously lead to a decrease in the rabbit sighting rate and an increased likelihood of activating the money-back guarantee. In conclusion, our findings clearly showed that considering both animal behavior in response to humans and human interest (i.e., MBG) in developing a tourism management system can achieve a simultaneous resolution of profitability and reduction in the impact of overutilization.