The influence of knowledge on the visitors' behaviour at wildlife-tourist attractions. Can awareness hinder Western millennial travellers from visiting harmful wildlife-based attractions?

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Tourism - Miscellaneous, grade: 8.00, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, course: International Tourism Management, language: English, abstract: Wildlife-based tourism currently represents one of the fastest growing travel sectors, expected to increase by at least 10% annually. The high demand for animal encounters is mostly caused by the soaring number of international tourist arrivals and the search by travellers for new and memorable experiences in contact with nature. Among travellers, millennials have gained particular importance in the tourism industry due to the high frequency of their journeys, the considerable amount of money spent and their quest for authentic and learning experiences while travelling. Therefore, this generation may contribute to the growing request for Wildlife-Tourist Attractions (WTAs) worldwide. Due to the development of WTAs on a global scale, they are increasingly receiving huge criticism from animal welfare advocates because of their exploitation of the animals' rights and poor welfare conditions. However, the alarming lack of knowledge about negative visitors' impacts on the wildlife and about animal welfare assessment, along with the high percentage of excellent reviews on TripAdvisor, encourage tourists to indulge in wildlife encounters that are highly detrimental. Due to the considerable share of millennials in tourism and the impact of culture on behaviour, only Western millennials have been considered for the purpose of this study. In connection with the aim of this thesis, the three following main research questions have been formulated: RQ1. How important is good animal welfare for Western millennial travellers at WTAs? RQ2. How does knowledge influence the behaviour of Western millennial visitors at WTAs? RQ3. How do positive and negative reviews on TripAdvisor influence Western millennials to visit WTAs?