Animal photojournalism and the animal gaze in tourism research

In this study, we explore the role of animal photojournalism in advancing our understanding and practice of animal in tourism by incorporating the animal gaze. Acknowledging that current literature lacks empirical tools to capture non-human perspectives – and largely reduces animals to passive objects – this study calls for the exploration, conceptualisation, and inclusion of the ‘animal gaze’ in tourism studies. We analyse extant literature in the field to identify various research approaches – including the emerging approach that we define as collaborative – and propose to go farther, towards a novel approach, which we label ‘animalist’. Through an open conversation among us, two tourism scholars and an animal photojournalist, we examine the role of photojournalism in progressing towards such a novel approach. By attuning human audiences to animal perspectives and experiences, animal photojournalism facilitates cross-species empathy and paves the way for a more inclusive, animalist approach to studying animal tourism. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on animals in tourism by offering pathways for more inclusive and ethically grounded research practices.