9. Wildlife Tourism for Visitors’ Learning Experiences: Some Evidences on the Royal Bengal Tiger in Bangladesh and India

Much wildlife tourism involves seeing animal species in pristine natural settings. However, it does include non-domestic animals on farms, in zoos etc., and in areas which are fairly natural but not really pristine. Resources for promoting wildlife tourism are scattered in different locales of the world. Wildlife tourism needs to be viewed from both theoretical and practical aspects. The chapter presents two classical examples to view wildlife tourism as a learning experience. In Bangladesh context, this chapter explores wildlife tourism aspect of the Sundarbans. The Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is an important asset of the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. Particular references have been made to learning experiences generated through a new wildlife tourism product to showcase the Royal Bengal tiger. On the other side, in the context of India the chapter outlines wildlife resources in the Hadoti regions and makes some specific suggestions to employ these resources for wildlife tourism. Both empirical and literature-based data are gathered to outline wildlife tourism in these two separate perspectives. Findings outline the necessity of safeguarding wildlife tourism resources in the Sundarbans while promoting wildlife tourism products in the Hadoti region. This research emphasises the importance of involving both academics and tourists with wildlife tourism that can also benefit both ecological and environmental well-being of wildlife resources. On the common ground, the study shows the significance of wildlife tourism education. Then, it suggested that tourism planning in Sundarbans and Hadoti regions should consider the development of educative tour services and products for wildlife visitors aiming to inform them on ecological and biological data of wild animals, as well as to include conservation issues as part of learning experience.