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There is critical academic debate about the sustainability of whale watching and how to ensure responsible human-cetacean interactions. This paper systematically reviews fifty years of whale-watching tourism research to identify the main research topics of academic interest, aimed at identifying some remaining gaps requiring attention. The study mapped and downscaled scientific knowledge by employing scientometrics. Results show that research has preferably focused on assessing the impact of the activity on cetaceans by monitoring species behavioural patterns and, more recently, by understanding consumer attitudes and behaviour. Despite rising research output, from the standpoint of cetacean well-being protection, impacts also continue to increase. Hence, there is still a need for more insights, especially from the human perspective. A more in-depth understanding of the underpinnings of social behaviour will contribute to providing more knowledgeable, tailored management responses to advance towards a sustainably responsible whale-watching tourism model.

In whale-watching tourism, ensuring responsible human-cetacean interactions has raised critical academic debate over recent decades. This chapter reviews empirical evidence with the aim of progressing towards new trends that yield managerial responses for reconciling whale-watching tourism with sustainability principles. A co-word analysis of the last 30 years of scientific literature is conducted to explore the evolution of the leading topics, relate these to some industry milestones, and identify the research and managerial gaps. The evidence urges a new socio-ecological relationship approach in whale watching for sustainability, to be achieved by 2030 and beyond, by reorienting management practices to a more integrative approach based on scientific breakthroughs and collaborative stakeholder networks.

'Going green' is still challenging in the yachting industry partly due to the lack of consumer-centric approaches. This study assesses sailors' preferences and willingness to pay for green policies in marinas, in the context of other measures to increase health security and digital transformation. To do so, a choice experiment was designed through the lens of stakeholders and supported by the Delphi technique. The study is based on the marinas of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic crossing and involved European sailors as potential users. Data confirm that sailors' utility and intention to visit marinas increase the most when ambitious green programs are in place, thereby confirming a high environmental sensitivity among them. More specifically, solar energy use, single-use plastic eradication, and waste recycling are the programs with the greatest positive impact on sailors' willingness to pay. This indicates a potential profitability and market opportunities derived from more environmental friendly practices in marinas. The study opens a new perspective to improve incentive and funding schemes and close implementation gaps in recreational ports.

There is scientific consensus that human activity through whale-watching is causing an increasing amount of damage to the natural environment, which poses critical challenges to the goal of sustainability. Based on a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the scientific literature, this study calls for urgent rethinking in regards to whale-watching sustainability. A new, integrative framework for research actions built upon the concept of regenerative tourism is provided so as to lead to a more balanced evaluation of environmentally and socially responsible whale-watching tourism. The assessment of the literature review leads to three main research areas that have driven the research field in whale-watching tourism: the ecological responses of cetaceans due to human disturbance, the determinants of whale-watching tourism demand, and the impact of tourism on sustainability from macro-cultural and political perspectives. The new integrative framework, which additionally considers innovation and external drivers as prominent research areas, proposes future guidelines for studying the interplay between some of the more specific research topics: social change, economic drivers, gender perspective, co-creation, social responsibility, technology, climate change and long-term cumulative effects, among other issues of concern.