Tiger Tourism: From Shooting to Petting

Abstract

This article investigates the changing forms of human engagement with tigers—in terms of manner of interaction, perceptions, experiences, and activation of the senses—in a four-fold sequence of settings. It outlines the process by which the fascinating ‘Otherness’ of the tiger in the wilderness has been gradually attenuated, as he was mastered by humans, first by virtual extermination, and then by increasingly strict forms of subjugation, eventually to become an apparently harmless plaything for patting tourists. The article dwells upon the tiger's resistance to domination, expressed in occasional outbursts of aggression, perceived by his masters as ‘accidents’. It concludes that the consequences of contemporary tourism for the conservation of wild tigers are predominantly negative, even as tourism encourages the proliferation of captive tigers, and argues that without political will the problems engendered by tiger tourism cannot be resolved, even with the best professional advice.