The Economic Impact of Trophy Hunting Operations in the South African Wildlife Industry

Literature background:Currently, the majority of land used in South Africa for wildlife tourism by the private sector has been converted from livestock farms to game farms and covers more land than state-owned provincial and... [ view full abstract ]

Literature background:

Currently, the majority of land used in South Africa for wildlife tourism by the private sector has been converted from livestock farms to game farms and covers more land than state-owned provincial and national parks conservation areas combined. The main pillars game farms/reserves and also the generation of income are from hunting, game breeding, wildlife tourism and game meat production and other byproducts. Hunting is seen as one of the biggest economic contributors to the private wildlife industry, and consist of trophy hunting (mainly foreign hunters) and biltong hunters (predominantly South Africans). Previous research in this field have determined the economic impact of biltong hunters, but little has been done on the economic impact of trophy hunting and have this impacts on regional economies. Therefore the aim of this research is to determine the economic impact of trophy hunting on South Africa’s economy.

Method:

The study was conducted by means of quantitative research. The questionnaire was developed in Google Forms after which a link was created that was distributed by PHASA on their website. The data was automatically captured by Google Forms. A total of 362 questionnaires were completed from October 2016 to June 2017 period. The study further made use of economic multipliers, input-output analysis, and related modelling processes through input-output (supply-use) tables and social accounting matrices (SAM).

Results:

The preliminary results revealed the profile of trophy hunters, their preferred species to hunt, and the aspects they spend on most during their hunting trip. It also showed that hunters on average spend R260 000.00 per hunting trip to South Africa. Added to this the study determined trophy hunting’s contribution to job creation and identified others sectors in the economy that benefits from hunting.

The main contribution of this research is that now researchers are putting together the economic contribution of the wildlife industry as a whole, to South Africa’s economy.