Whale watching
Whale watching tourism has grown substantially since the mid-1980s. The first worldwide survey of whale watching was conducted by Hoyt for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) in 1992. It was updated in 1995 and submitted by the UK government to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meetings as a demonstration of the value of living whales. In 1999, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) asked Hoyt for another expansion, which was published in 2001. In 2009 the survey was completed by a team of economists and this report estimated that in 2008, 13 million people went whale watching, up from 9 million ten years earlier. Commercial whale watching operations were found in 119 countries. Direct revenue of whale watching trips was estimated at US$872.7 million and indirect revenue of $2,113.1 million was spent by whale watchers in tourism-related businesses.