Synthesis and its implication for post-COVID-19 conservation
management
The potential of ecotourism as a tool for improving human-bat relations
was explored in this study. Specifically, our study showed the
effectiveness of short-term engagement approach such as bat-watching by
increasing tourists’ awareness and conservation willingness towards
bats. We noted varying levels of knowledge and public perceptions
towards bats and the association with sociodemographic backgrounds. But
most importantly tourists’ conservation willingness towards bat
conservation was driven by their knowledge of bat ecosystem services,
and their perception of the conservation relevance of bat cave watching.
Our findings conform to one of the paradigms (i.e., to affect nature
conservation) of genuine purpose and application of ecotourism (e.g.,
Ross and Wall 1998). However, further work is needed, as we only
targeted urban tourists using key knowledge indicators. Further,
in-depth and comparative studies (e.g., different geographic and
cultural backgrounds) on conservation effectiveness of ecotourism to
raising conservation willingness and interest should be developed. Our
findings showed that the majority of the tourists perceive bats
positively. It is critical to take note that public behaviour towards
wildlife may change depending on the current societal and economic
trends (Manfredo et al. 2003). Although bats were previously feared due
to their association with disease, this has exacerbated during the
COVID-19 pandemic (Zhou et al. 2020). The fear-mongering portrayal by
various media platforms has spread more rapidly than the virus itself
and has led to a public backlash and calls for colony executions (Zhao
2020). The global bat conservation community expects significant changes
in public behaviour towards bats, which may hamper conservation. Thus,
we suggest that a survey on tourist’s perception and behaviour towards
bats in the post-COVID-19 period would enable further measures to be
developed to improve people’s perceptions of bats, and thus enable
conservation biologists and tourism managers to develop appropriate
measures ensuring the protection of bats and facilitate sustainable
tourism.
Bat conservationists and science communicators thus need to take this as
an important measure to counter misinformation, bolster or restore
positive connections between human and bats in the post-COVID-19.
Prudent and unprejudiced framing of information should be emphasised
when communicating about bats and COVID-19 issues to the public (see
MacFarlane and Rocha 2020). Primarily, conservation communication should
highlight comprehensible information about ecological and economic roles
of bats, the human-bat disease dimensions, and the role of human
activities (e.g., wildlife meat trade and habitat destruction) on
increased disease risks. Effectively and positively engaging humans with
bats will be key to their effective conservation, here we demonstrate
that ecotourism can play that role and could enable a better and safer
co-existence for both taxa.