Orchids: an example of charismatic megaflora tourism?

Abstract

Orchids are charismatic plants, reflected by their popularity in horticulture, as cut flowers and by the number of orchid societies. They are incredibly diverse with more species of orchids than birds and mammals combined. Despite their popularity and diversity, there is little recognition of orchid-focused tourism, be it mass conference tourism with hundreds of thousands of devotees attending orchid shows, or small boutique orchid ecotourism trips. As emblems of exoticism and luxury they are used to market a wide range of tourism products. This chapter explores the extent and scale of orchid tourism globally, including highlighting orchid focused examples of conference tourism, plant collections, nature-based tourism, ecotourism and volunteer tourism. Recognition and research into the economic, social and environmental aspects of orchid tourism is clearly required to match the scale and importance of this under-recognised form of charismatic plant tourism.