Small sight—Big might: Economic impact of bird tourism shows opportunities for rural communities and biodiversity conservation

other visitors, likely related to the disproportionate number of retirees (54%) among bird- watchers versus other visitors (45%) (Table 2). Also, birdwatchers tend to stay longer and are more active during their trips. On average, birders spent four more nights and engaged in twice as many activities than non-birders (Table 2). Higher than average educational attain- ment and the tendency of birders to be middle-age or older was reflected in AVSP and in a nationwide survey of birders, suggesting that the limited data we used was representative of birdwatchers in general [6]. In 2016, four in every five birdwatchers arrived in Alaska independently (not on cruise ships), illustrating that most birdwatchers are independent travellers, reaching Alaska on vari- ous transportation modes, other than cruise ships. Independent travellers are also more likely to reach remote rural areas compared to other visitors [7,41]. In 2016, the estimated Alaska bird tourism expenditures amounted to $378 million in 2016 U.S. dollars with the majority (28%) of total spending going towards tours and activities, fol- lowed by lodging (22%), food and beverages (20%), gifts and souvenirs (16%) and transporta- tion (15%) (Table 3). Among Alaska’s Bird Conservation Regions, the Rainforest region received the most bird- ers and had the largest spending with $184.2 million, almost half of the statewide total. Table 2. AVSP survey respondent characteristics, 2016. Birdwatchers, n = 743 Other visitors, n = 5,174 Variable Mean SD Mean SD Per person expenditures, US$ a 1,694 2,780 1,084 1,746

Household income before taxes, US$ a 102,170 48,263 110,690 52,782 Nights spent on most recent trip 13.0 10.3 8.9 8.8 Number of local activities 5.9 2.5 3.4 2.3 Number of previous Alaska vacations 1.1 0.3 1.1 0.4 Group size 2.1 1.5 2.3 1.6 a2016 U.S. dollars, statistics calculated from mid-points in reported income intervals (S5 Table). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268594.t002 Table 3. Alaska bird tourism expenditures by category in 2016 $ million and bird watch effort by Bird Conservation Region. Category Arctic Islands Interior Rainforest Western Total Lodging 0.8 n/a 42.8 34.2 0.2 83.0 Tours, activities, entertainment 0.2 n/a 25.0 71.5 7.4 104.1 Gifts, souvenirs, clothing 0.2 n/a 20.7 36.3 3.5 60.7 Food and beverages 0.3 n/a 37.9 31.2 5.4 74.8 Rental cars, fuel, transportation 0.3 n/a 40.2 11.0 3.9 55.4 Total spending a 1.8 n/a 166.5 184.2 25.4 377.9 % total spending <1% n/a 44% 49% 7% Estimated 2016 birdwatchers b 5,890 n/a 220,875 253,270 14,725 294,500 % total birdwatchers <2% n/a 75% 86% <5% ebird reporting bird observers c 604 985 4,322 4,312 1,602 11,825 % total ebird rep. bird observer 5% 8% 37% 36% 14% Mean rep. bird observer group size 2.6 4.9 2.9 2.7 3.6 3.0 aSource: Alaska Visitor Statistics Program VII [21]. bEstimated birdwatcher volume by region, based on n = 606 AVSP respondents indicating regions visited [21].

cFor regional comparison only. Ebird observers calculated from the average observer group sizes as reported through ebird using most recently available data from eBird Basic Dataset [16]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268594.t003 PLOS ONE Economic impact of bird tourism in Alaska PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268594 July 6, 2022 9 / 18