An evaluation of governance systems for tourist-accessible animal sanctuaries in emerging economies and an assessment of their effectiveness from the perspective of stakeholders
Animal sanctuaries have proliferated around the world in recent decades and play an important role in the growing wildlife tourism industry. With a general expectation that animal sanctuaries ensure animal welfare and conservation, the lack of an officially agreed definition and the absence of regulatory systems leave sanctuary operators largely free to choose which practices to adopt. This can lead to facilities marketing themselves as 'sanctuaries', but in reality using exploitative practices to attract visitors. This research examines existing governance systems for tourist-accessible animal sanctuaries in emerging economies and assesses their effectiveness from a stakeholder perspective. To examine a variety of stakeholder perspectives, this research uses qualitative data in the form of 12 interviews representing industry experts, six documents representing industry standards (guidelines and certification schemes) and 920 TripAdvisor reviews representing the customer view. The data is analysed using an interpretive approach with an inductive latent thematic analysis applied across all three data sources to allow comparison of the different stakeholder perspectives. The thesis argues that there is a shift from a predominant anthropocentric (human-centred) to a more ecocentric (nature-centred) worldview, and a consequent need to recognise animals as stakeholders and provide them with voice and agency. Existing governance systems for animal sanctuaries are challenged to strike a balance between providing tourist entertainment, as demanded by the anthropocentric view, and ensuring animal welfare and conservation, as implied in an ecocentric context. For an improved understanding of what constitutes an animal sanctuary, this research contributes a definition of an animal sanctuary that is not only animal related but also visitor related, as most animal sanctuaries are dependent on visitor income. Such recognition has been largely bypassed in previous definitions and in existing certification schemes for animal sanctuaries. As a key contribution to theory, this thesis presents a theoretical framework for advanced governance and an associated definition of good governance for tourist-accessible animal sanctuaries in emerging economies. This extends existing governance structures by identifying six principles of good governance relevant to animal sanctuaries: 1) establishing an effective legal framework, 2) promoting accountability, 3) ensuring fairness/equitability, 4) increasing transparency, 5) understanding the concept of power, and 6) securing financial stability. Customers are assigned a powerful role in these governance structures. Key findings reveal that the capacity of customers to assess animal welfare and conservation practices of animal sanctuaries is diluted by a lack of effective communication of back stage processes such as animal acquisition, or breeding and release, which are critical to understanding the purpose of an animal sanctuary. Further, in developing an understanding of customer expectations and demands when visiting an animal sanctuary, this research establishes four visitor types: conservation conscious visitors, knowledgeable visitors, unaware visitors and entertainment seekers. The four visitor types represent contrasting perspectives, and reveal learning effects at different stages of the customer journey. Finally, this thesis culminates in a Roadmap of practical steps to improve existing governance systems for tourist-accessible animal sanctuaries in emerging economies. It outlines initial steps to establish a foundation for this governance and further steps in the case of compliance and non-compliance with what has been determined as good practice in this research.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations