Gansbaai, a small coastal town in South Africa, is considered "the shark cage diving capital of the world", despite there being over 40 shark tourism destinations worldwide. However, Gansbaai has one outstanding feature which few other destinations have: great white sharks. Because of this, Gansbaai attracts visitors from all over the world who travel to the area with the expectation to witness this particular species, making it an international hotspot for shark tourists. However, in recent years, a decline in the great white shark population has been widely reported in the media. The decline of the shark population is not only a problem for South Africa, but globally. Today, 172 shark species are already on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Yet, South Africa is one of the few places on earth where humans have the opportunity to interact with this species at close range. The outcry is great, as the impact on the South African shark industry has been profound. It seems that this has also had an impact on the satisfaction of the participants, as an ad-hoc analysis of online ratings shows. This is critical for the industry, as potential participants nowadays take their cue from the experiences of previous people.The main reason for this is the confusing plethora of tourism services available today. Therefore, the online review platform TripAdvisor has become a reliable source for travel decisions. Accordingly, analyses of online reviews have become particularly popular in the tourism and hospitality industry as it allows service providers to gain insight into what influences consumer satisfaction. This shows the importance for tour operators in Gansbaai's shark industry to understand what influences visitor satisfaction in order to adjust their concepts sustainably. Therefore, the aim of the study is to identify the factors which influence visitor satisfaction in the shark tourism industry in Gansbaai based on TripAdvisor reviews.

Diving tourism has seen such growth in the past decade that the World Tourism Organization suggests it will soon become as important as ski tourism. According to a WTO estimate, there are now 5-7 million active certified divers in the world. Despite its development as a mass tourism activity, its dynamic growth and great economic importance, particularly for island destinations in the tropics, surprisingly few scientific publications address this form of special-interest tourism. In the light of this, New Frontiers in Marine Tourism is the first attempt to describe and analyse this tourism sector comprehensively. The first part of the book is devoted to an overview of the dive sector, addressing different types of diving locations and their particular characteristics, the geographical distribution of dive locations, the origins of dive tourists, as well as the growth and economic significance of diving tourism in destinations worldwide. In its second section, the book outlines different motivations and typologies of diving tourists, their learning behaviour, knowledge of marine environments, and their interaction with flora and fauna. The third section focuses on diver satisfaction, attitudes and preferences, diver education and interpretation, compliance with regulations by divers and tour operators, environmental impacts, and aspects of risk and health, thus highlighting a variety of pressing topics related to the management of diving tourism. * First book of its kind to address the rapidly growing area of diving tourism * Contributions from academic experts in the field, it addresses hot issues such as environmental impacts, health and safety, eduaction, and economic factors and impacts. * Brilliantly edited, it represents a coherent and cohesive collection of critically important issues in this area.

Focuses on marketing strategies implemented in tourism services firms and includes a collection of papers related to specific marketing strategies. This title presents the application of specific marketing strategies such as experiential marketing, branding, target marketing, relationship marketing and e-marketing in tourism.

Marine Tourism examines both successful and unsuccessful tourism in coastal and marine environments. The author provides an overview of the history, development and growth of marine tourism and describes the characteristics of 'marine tourists' and the 'vendors' of these tourist activities. The book includes case studies of specific types of tourism including: * the cruise ship industry, * whale and dolphin watching, * yachting - the America's Cup, * personal water crafts and other water sports * and maritime museums and festivals. in locations including Brighton, UK, the Florida Keys and Hawaii, USA Caribbean islands, New Zealand and Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The final section examines tourism impacts on marine ecosystems and coastal communities and explores management techniques aimed at reducing negative impacts and maximizing the benefits of marine tourism.

This book is a landmark contribution to the rapidly growing field of wildlife tourism, especially in regard to its underpinning foundations of science, conservation and policy. Written by a number of environmental and biological scientists it explains the synergy between wildlife and tourism by drawing on their global experiences.