Your happiness or mine: influence of affective states and level of contact on public perceptions of elephant tourism

Many captive Asian elephants in Thailand work in the tourism industry at ‘elephant camps’, where they often experience injuries, poor nutrition, unnatural social environments and aversive handling. Despite increasing concern for animal welfare, the general public often have difficulty recognizing housing and care that reflect positive animal welfare for captive animals. The aim of this study was to investigate participants’ willingness to support an elephant attraction and their perceived emotional value from the experience, based on the affective state of the captive elephant and their level of contact with it. Participants (n=590) from the United States were randomly assigned to one of four vignettes (using a 2x2 experimental design) that described an elephant attraction, varying the affective state of the elephant (feels excellent, feels terrible) and the level of contact they could have with the elephant (low, high). A mixed methods approach was used, where participants provided answers to Likert-type questions, followed by an open-ended response. Participants showed greater willingness to support the elephant attraction (b=1.94, p=<0.0001) and greater perceived emotional value from the experience (b=2.00, p=<0.0001) when the elephant felt excellent, as opposed to when the elephant felt terrible. There were no significant differences between low and high contact for the measures included in this study. Qualitative responses varied greatly, with participants making many assumptions about the elephant and the attraction, revealing potential misconceptions that participants have about the welfare of captive elephants. The affective state of the elephant was an important determinant in participants’ willingness to support an elephant attraction and their perceived emotional value from the experience. Future research should investigate the public perception of individual activities, such as elephant riding and bathing, the demographics of potential tourists and Mahout perceptions.

泰国众多圈养亚洲象在"大象营地"的旅游业中务工，此类场景下它们常遭遇伤害、营养不良、非自然社交环境以及厌恶性饲养操作。尽管公众对动物福利的关注度与日俱增，但大众往往难以识别符合圈养动物正向福利标准的饲养与照料模式。本研究旨在基于圈养大象的情绪状态及游客与大象的接触程度，探究参与者对大象旅游体验项目的支持意愿，以及他们从体验中感知到的情感价值。本研究招募了590名美国籍参与者，采用2×2实验设计将其随机分配至四组情景描述材料（vignettes）中，每组材料分别设定了大象的情绪状态（情绪佳、情绪差）与游客接触程度（低接触、高接触）两个变量，以描述某大象旅游体验项目。本研究采用混合研究方法：参与者首先完成李克特（Likert）量表式问卷作答，随后进行开放式问答。结果显示，当大象情绪状态佳时，参与者对该大象旅游体验项目的支持意愿（b=1.94，p<0.0001）以及从体验中感知到的情感价值（b=2.00，p<0.0001）均显著高于大象情绪状态差的情况。本研究涉及的各项指标在低接触与高接触组间均未出现显著差异。质性回答结果差异显著，参与者针对大象及该旅游项目作出了诸多假设，暴露出大众对圈养大象福利认知中存在的诸多潜在误解。大象的情绪状态是影响参与者对大象旅游体验项目支持意愿，以及其从体验中感知情感价值的重要决定因素。未来研究可针对公众对大象骑行、洗澡等单一体验活动的认知、潜在游客的人口统计学特征以及象夫（mahout）的认知展开调研。