New research has suggested bird-watchers are laying a “golden egg” when it comes to domestic tourism.
The travel trade has at last been able to separate birders from other tourists to determine what they contribute to the economy. It comes to a staggering $282 million per year.
Until recently, quantifying the scale of birdwatching tourism in Australia was difficult because of a lack of data. But Birdlife Australia has used statistics from a survey conducted by Tourism Research Australia last year to compile its own Bird and Nature Tourism Report. This reveals birding tourism is the fastest-growing niche market and that birders spend more than the average tourist.
The Birdlife Australia survey prepared by Dr Rochelle Steven, a conservation scientist at Murdoch University, reports specialist birdwatching tours are selling out, bush resorts are listing local birds on their websites and caravan park owners are handing out flyers on where to find uncommon local species.
All over Australia, birdwatching is booming.
It has been known for many years that international birders have spent big in Australia, where the unique birds are a big drawcard, to say nothing of the pouched mammals found only here.
But the Covid pandemic in which Australians have been largely confined to their own states, and even their own homes, has inspired a greater interest in wildlife. People have discovered fauna and flora literally on their doorstep.
As a corollary, bird organisations are experiencing unprecedented interest in their activities and booksellers are reporting an increase in sales of bird books.
The Tourism Research Australia study not only revealed the scale of birdwatching tourism but identified birding “hotspots” throughout the country.
One was Tasmania, and specifically Bruny Island.
Tasmania has 12 species of bird found nowhere else on earth, a particularly high number for such a small land mass. By comparison Victoria has none, and New South Wales only one unique species. And two other endangered species breed only in the state, the orange-bellied and swift parrots.
Bruny Island is a drawcard because all of Tasmania’s endemic species can be found there, including one of the world’s rarest birds, the forty-spotted pardalote.
Such is the importance of Bruny and the wider Kingborough municipality for birders, the Kingborough Council has published its own map of birding walks.
Dr Steven believes that putting an economic value on birdwatching can rally support for conservation at a community level, but with so many species on the brink, much more needed to be done. Despite having one of the worst wildlife extinction records in the world, Australia’s unique wildlife is what makes it such an appealing destination for nature-based travel both domestic and internationally.
“Many regional communities now see that continued habitat destruction through logging and land clearing can have negative economic impacts,” she says. “After all, once you’ve killed the golden goose, you can’t get it back.”