Primate Tourism

Abstract

Primate tourism is the use of nonhuman primates as the focus of tourism, with the aim of generating revenue and making conservation of primates and habitat worthwhile to local human populations. In practice, this oft‐touted conservation tool has been riddled with problems, calling into question whether it is helping or hurting conservation. Safari‐like primate tourism excursions, mainly focused on great apes, have shown the greatest efforts to manage tourism to limit negative impacts on primates, and are characterized here on the “high responsibility” end of an ecotourism spectrum. Nevertheless, there are still considerable problems, including compliance with adopted guidelines, and disease transmission. Monkey forests fall toward the “low responsibility” end of the spectrum, and show the most issues with habitat destruction and escalating aggression. Remarkably few efforts have focused on public education. If this neglect continues, there may be little hope for primate tourism to ever succeed as a conservation tool.