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\begin{document}

\title{The potential of bat-watching tourism in raising public awareness
towards bat conservation in the Philippines}



\author[1]{Krizler C. Tanalgo}%
\author[1]{Alice Hughes}%
\affil[1]{Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences}%


\vspace{-1em}



  
  \date{May 26, 2024}


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\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{abstract}
Wildlife-watching and ecotourism are effective approaches for improving
public attitudes and raising awareness of wildlife conservation.
However, the ability of wildlife tourism to enhance the conservation of
less appealing taxa such as bats has rarely been examined. We sampled a
total of 197 tourists in Monfort Bat Cave Sanctuary in the Philippines,
the world's largest colony of Geoffroy's Rousette (\emph{Rousettus
amplexicaudatus}). Convenient pre/post-visit surveys were conducted to
(a) explore the potential of bat-watching to raise tourists' knowledge,
attitudes towards bats, and determine how perceptions vary across
demographic classes; and (b) determine potential predictors of
conservation willingness among sampled urban tourists. Our study
observed an increase in knowledge about bats and 61\% of the tourists
are willing to support conservation bat protection after the
bat-watching visit to the cave site. Tourists' conservation willingness
was associated with age group, prior knowledge of bat ecosystem
services, and perceptions about the conservation relevance of
bat-watching as a conservation initiative. Our study highlights the
effectiveness of short-term engagements such as bat-watching at
improving human-bat interactions and suggests such programs should focus
on highlighting ecosystem services and benefits of bats. However, it
should be noted that we performed this study before the COVID-19 global
pandemic and misinformation linking bats to the disease spread has
increased since. We expect that public perception will change in the
post-COVID-19 period and the conservation willingness survey should be
repeated to understand how to counter misconceptions to develop
effective bat conservation management in the post-COVID-19.

\par\null

This manuscript is accepted in~\emph{Environmental Challenges}%
\end{abstract}%

\newpage

\sloppy




\textbf{Introduction}

Conservation biologists urgently need to develop pragmatic and
science-based measures to protect remaining species and habitats from
increasing degradation and loss (Ferraro, 2001). Human and public
behaviour towards wildlife shape the successful conservation of species
and their habitat (Clements et al., 2018; John et al., 2013). However,
the public is often unaware of the numerous ecosystem services provided
by the environment, which limits their conservation willingness and
support (Madden, 2004). The Aichi Biodiversity Target 1 aims to address
this stating that ``\emph{By 2020, at the latest, people are aware of
the values of biodiversity and the steps they can take to conserve and
use it sustainably''} (Moss et al., 2015). To develop effective
conservation and management strategies, conservation biologists and
policymakers must understand important drivers of human behaviour and
attitudes towards species. For example, bats are often perceived as
uncharismatic or even frightening by the public, and frequently
misunderstood, with little recognition or attention regardless of the
various ecosystem services they deliver. Bats are crucial to ecosystem
functioning, especially through seed dispersal and pollination,
maintaining gene flow within ecosystems, and bringing nutrients into
cave ecosystems (Aziz et al., 2021; Aziz et al., 2017; Sritongchuay et
al., 2016). Also, insect-eating bats suppress insect pests in the
agroecosystems, thereby reducing the need for pesticide use (McCracken
et al., 2012).{}

~~~~~~~~~~~ Negative public perceptions of bats are pervasive as a
consequence of the public's lack of understanding about their economic
and ecological roles (Aziz et al., 2017; Cousins and Compton, 2005; Low
et al., 2021; Tanalgo and Hughes, 2019). One consequence of the lack of
recognition of the services provided by bats is a deficient conservation
prioritisation and funding to highlight them, and on some occasions
culling of bats for a variety of unsubstantiated beliefs (Florens,
2016). In Mauritius, for example, an estimated 20,000 \emph{Pteropus
niger}, a species of flying fox endemic to the archipelago, have been
legally persecuted without any scientific basis as a response to fruit
crop loss (Florens, 2016). The association of bats to disease spread,
coupled with sensationalised media coverage, has caused widespread
public fear and unjustified persecution in many regions (L\selectlanguage{ngerman}ópez\selectlanguage{english}-Baucells
et al., 2018; Racey et al., 2018).

~~~~~~~~~~~ One key measure to effectively counter public misconceptions
is by raising positive perceptions of the focal species or habitat (Boso
et al., 2021; Hoffmaster et al., 2016; Moss et al., 2015). There are
various outlets to improve public perception toward species and promote
wildlife conservation, including zoos, aquariums, and wildlife watching
(Moss et al., 2015). These initiatives are widely known to promote
``charismatic species'' (e.g., elephants, tigers, pandas) (Colleony et
al., 2017; Hausmann et al., 2017), but are very scarce for unfamiliar
species like bats. Conservation education and outreach with communities
have been shown to improve public understanding and acceptance of bats
(Hoffmaster et al., 2016). Flying-fox viewing in Terengganu, Malaysia
showed evidence of the potential of wildlife tourism as a conservation
tool by raising public awareness and generating positive attitudes
towards bats (Roslan et al., 2017). Similar to other wildlife tourism
initiatives, bat-watching has the potential to raise awareness about
bats and promote sustainable local development, therefore facilitating
their conservation if conducted effectively and with appropriate
sensitivity.

~~~~~~~~~~~ Caves are widely used for ecotourism, facilitating
environmental education and generating income (Bagstad and Wiederholt,
2013; Pennisi et al., 2004). In the Southwestern United States,
effective examples include the Congress Avenue bridge in Austin, Texas,
which generates an estimated 6.5 million USD annually from 242,000 bat
viewing tourists from across America and beyond (Bagstad and Wiederholt,
2013; Pennisi et al., 2004). Ecotourism in Gunung Mulu National Park in
Sarawak Malaysia includes bat emergence viewing with the area visited by
an estimated 15,850 foreign and 8,815 domestic tourists annually and the
generated revenues support governmental projects for the environment
(Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Sarawak, 2018). Cave tourism
should focus on the protection and conservation of bat species and
associated ecosystems to sustain related ecosystem services provisions
(e.g., pollination services of cave nectar bats) (Medellin et al.,
2017). Nonetheless, bat biologists are concerned about the potential
negative impacts of unregulated cave tourism and religious visits,
especially in key sites with high bat biodiversity (Deleva and Chaverri,
2018; Furey and Racey, 2016; Tanalgo and Hughes, 2019). Ecotourism is
complex because its definition and application are regularly misused,
such as where it fails to effectively communicate the importance of
biodiversity conservation (Cunha, 2010; Fernandez\selectlanguage{english}-Llamazares et al.,
2020; Kiss, 2004; Ross and Wall, 1999) and require the integration of
effective conservation messaging (Fernandez\selectlanguage{english}-Llamazares et al., 2020).
Thus, science-based frameworks and strategies are crucial for optimising
the effectiveness of ecotourism not only economically, but also to
facilitate the protection of species and habitats. However, there is
limited knowledge on the effectiveness of bat-watching and its ability
to improve human-bat relations in many parts of the world particularly
in the global south (Abdul Aziz et al., 2017; Debata, 2020).

~~~~~~~~~~~ To address this gap, we performed an investigation in the
world's largest bat cave colony of Geoffroy's Rousette (\emph{Rousettus
amplexicaudatus}) in the south of the Philippines. We expect that
tourists have higher negative perceptions and show little support
towards bat conservation and management. Following other studies on
ecotourism (Ross and Wall, 1999), we aimed to (a) explore the potential
of bat-watching to raise tourists' knowledge, attitudes towards bats,
and determine how perceptions vary across demographic classes; and (b)
elucidate predictors of conservation willingness among sampled tourists.
We hope our findings will facilitate initiatives, constructive dialogue
and collaboration between conservation biologists and ecotourism
managers to design effective bat-watching programs to increase public
support for bat conservation and management.

\textbf{1.1. Study area and focal species{}}

~~~~~~~~~~~ We conducted our survey in the Monfort Bat Cave Sanctuary
(hereafter ``MBCS'') (7\textsuperscript{o} 09' 53.42'' N,
125\textsuperscript{o} 41' 31.99'' E) located on Mindanao Island, south
of the Philippines. The five-chambered cave hosts the world's largest
known colony of the fruit bat, \emph{Rousettus amplexicaudatus,} with an
estimated 1.8 to 2 million individuals (Carpenter et al., 2014). This
cave was opened for tourism in early 2005 and is privately owned and
protected by the Monfort family. The cave prohibits hunting and guano
harvesting. The cave's chambers and mouth are vertically open, which
allows tourists to view the day-roosting bats (Fig. 1). The tourism flow
in MBCS varies depending on the day of the week, with 30 to 100 tourists
per day. Income from bat cave tourism chiefly flows into local
livelihoods (e.g., wages) and enhances the sustainability and protection
of the cave site. Bat-watching also includes a brief 20-minute
conservation education lecture about bats, caves, and MBCS
history.\emph{{}}

\textbf{1.2.} \textbf{Survey procedure and questionnaire
design}\emph{{}}

During our pilot study and validation, roughly three-quarters of the
sampled tourists were unwilling to participate or did not finish their
questionnaires due to limited time to respond to a lengthy
questionnaire. Subsequently, we reformatted a concise questionnaire to
ease readability and obtain more responses (e.g., Choi and Pak, 2005).
To improve our sample size, a combination of convenience and
quantitative sampling was implemented using a similar pre/post-visit
survey approach of Garcia\selectlanguage{english}-Cegarra and Pacheco (2017) to assess tourist
knowledge and attitude toward bats and their conservation before and
after bat-watching. Visitors were asked a set of questions before a
short educational session and bat watching in the cave site (pre-visit
survey) and followed by a post-visit survey after they conclude their
bat cave viewing (Fig. 2). Only responses from the revised questionnaire
were used in the final analyses.

A structured questionnaire was administered face-to-face onsite with
consenting tourists between November 2018 and March 2019 (Supplementary
1). The questionnaire included 16 questions divided into pre-visit and
post-visit sections. Tourists' sociodemographic background (gender, age,
group, educational attainment) was asked pre-visit. The second part of
the pre-visit questionnaire measured motivations of tourists, prior
encounters with bats, knowledge about bats (e.g., ability to recognize
species, knowledge about bats, ecosystem service provisions) and
conservation willingness. It can also not be assumed that all visitors
were already interested in bats, as this tour was often part of a
diverse tour program that visited a number of places. The pre-visit
questionnaire was introduced prior to the short educational lecture by
the MBCS staff, and the same questionnaire responded by the individual
tourist was used in the post-visit survey.

{}Tourists proceeded to the cave site for an average of 30 minutes of
bat-watching activities. After the visit, tourists were requested to
complete the post-visit questionnaire, which consisted of questions to
determine tourist satisfaction with their visit and their perceptions of
conservation values of bat-watching. To assess the effectiveness of
short-term learning enhancement between visits, two questions (knowledge
about bat ecosystem services, and willingness to conserve and protect
bats) from the pre-visit questionnaire were repeated in the post-visit
questionnaire. The questions had categorical responses (``Yes,'' ``No,''
``Not sure'') and responses were then coded to a three-level scoring
scale (e.g., 1 = No, 2 = Not sure, 3 = Yes) when necessary (Mulema et
al., 2020).

\textbf{1.3.} \textbf{Data analyses}{}

First, the reliability of the statements was tested with Cronbach's
\selectlanguage{greek}\emph{α} \selectlanguage{english}and demonstrated an acceptable level of internal consistency
(\selectlanguage{greek}\emph{α =}\selectlanguage{english} 0.75; \selectlanguage{ngerman}± 0.634) in both pre-visit (\selectlanguage{greek}\emph{α =}\selectlanguage{english} 0.73; \selectlanguage{ngerman}± 0.50)
and post-visit (\selectlanguage{greek}\emph{α =}\selectlanguage{english} 0.77; \selectlanguage{ngerman}± 0.13) questionnaires (acceptable
value= 0.80 \textgreater{} \selectlanguage{greek}α \selectlanguage{english}\textgreater{} 0.70). We characterised each
visitor's perception and attitude according to their sociodemographic
backgrounds (e.g., gender, group, age, educational attainment). To test
for the significant difference in categorical responses based on their
sociodemographic backgrounds, we used Pearson's chi-squared test of
independence (?\textsuperscript{2}).

We performed separate binomial logistic regression to determine
variables that are linked to tourists' conservation willingness in the
(i) pre-visit and (ii) post-visit. We pooled the responses ``Not sure''
with ``No'' and coded as ``Not willing'' and ``Yes'' as ``Willing''
(e.g., Carson et al., 1998 and Mulema et al\emph{.,} 2020) to fit with
the binomial prediction following Aziz et al. (2017). We used the values
obtained from mean scores of each indicator in pre-visit and post-visit
variables and sociodemographic profiles as covariates and factors in the
binomial logistic model. The (a) prior experience and recognition, (b)
knowledge and understanding about Philippine bats, and (c) and prior
knowledge of ecosystem services were used as predicting variables for
pre-visit conservation willingness. Next, we used: (a) learning and
aesthetic satisfaction, (b) perceptions about conservation importance,
(c) enhanced knowledge of ecosystem services of bats and (d) prior
knowledge about ecosystem services as predicting variables for
post-visit conservation willingness.

Consequently, to determine the effectiveness of short-term enhancement
of knowledge about bat ecosystem services and conservation willingness,
we applied the non-parametric Wilcoxon rank test to assess the
significant relationship between visits. All reliability and statistical
tests were performed using the open-source program Jamovi version 1.2.6
(The Jamovi Project, 2020). We set our statistical significance at
\emph{p =} .05.

\textbf{1.4.} \textbf{Ethical notes}

~~~~~~~~~~~ This research follows the guidelines on ethical standards
and collection of data in strict compliance to the ethical standards in
handling human subjects (i.e., visitors and tourists) according to the
Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Program for human
research standards and manual (reference ID: 13047172).

\textbf{2.~~~~} \textbf{Results}{}

~

\textbf{2.1.} \textbf{Sociodemographic profile of tourists and visit
motivation}{}

~~~~~~~~~~~ ~A total of 197 tourists participated in our study, composed
of 62\% (\emph{n =} 122) male and 38\% (\emph{n =} 75) female. In terms
of age distribution, most of the tourists surveyed were between 20 and
40 years old (age group B: \emph{n =} 120; 61\%) followed by above 40
(age group C: \emph{n =} 46, 23\%) and below 20 (age group A: \emph{n =}
31; 16\%). The distribution of tourists based on their educational
background was equal between those with basic (elementary to high school
education) (\emph{n} = 98, 50\%) and higher (college or higher)
(\emph{n} = 99, 50\%) education. While, in terms of nationality, 85\%
(\emph{n =} 167) of the visitors were Filipino and 15\% (\emph{n =} 30)
were foreigners. The motivation to visit MBCS significantly differed
among tourists (?\textsuperscript{2 \emph{~~}}= 290.12, \emph{df =} 5,
\emph{p \textless{}} .001) and the highest motivation was `to see bats'
(\emph{n =} 144; 73\%) followed by `to see caves' (\emph{n =} 104; 53\%)
and for leisure (\emph{n =} 102; 52\%). A total of 61\% (\emph{n =} 121)
tourists perceived bats positively (\emph{p} \textgreater{} \emph{} 0.05
across demographic backgrounds). Additionally, in terms of general bat
knowledge and associations, 41\% of the tourists correctly perceived
bats as an ``animal'' and the remaining 59\% thought bats where
``\emph{aswang}'' or \emph{``mananggal''} (a local version of a vampire
in the Philippines), but this response differed in terms of education
level (?\textsuperscript{2 \emph{}} \emph{=} 16.64, \emph{df=} 3,
\emph{p = .}001) with higher misperception observed among sampled
tourists with basic education (\emph{n =} 25, 26\%) compared to those
with higher education (\emph{n =} 5, 5\%).

\textbf{2.2.} \textbf{Prior encounter, recognition, and perception of
bats}{}

More than half of the tourist participants (\emph{n =} 106; 54\%) had
seen bats before compared to 45\% (\emph{n =} 87) who had not and 2\%
(\emph{n =} 4) who were unsure if they had prior or previously
encountered bats. Within the sociodemographic class, distribution in
terms of gender, which had prior encounter with bats had relatively
equal percentages. However prior experience differed significantly among
age groups (?\textsuperscript{2 \emph{}} \emph{=} 12.03, \emph{df =} 4,
\emph{p =} .02), with a higher percentage of prior experience among
younger age groups (age group A, \emph{n =} 17, 55\%) compared to older
groups (Fig. 3).

Tourists' ability to recognise bat species and differentiate between bat
groups (e.g., the difference between fruit bats vs. insect bats) was
significantly higher in the younger-aged group (13\% of below 20 years
old) compared to other groups (?\textsuperscript{2 \emph{}} = 13.42,
\emph{df =} 4, \emph{p =} .01). When tourists were asked about their
knowledge of bat diversity and distribution in the Philippines, 13\%
(\emph{n =} 26) have knowledge of bats and their diversity in the
country. While there were 34\% (\emph{n =} 67) of the sampled tourists
understood the importance of caves as bat habitats. Filipinos (\emph{n
=} 27, 16\%) showed higher knowledge on Philippine bat diversity than
foreign tourists (\emph{n =} 0, 0\%) (?\textsuperscript{2} = 6.026,
\emph{df =} 2, \emph{p \textless{}} 0.05). Similarly, Filipinos (38\%,
\emph{n =} 63) showed higher familiarity than foreign tourists (10\%) in
terms of the knowledge of cave bats in the Philippines
(?\textsuperscript{2} = 8.78, \emph{df =} 2, \emph{p =} 0.012) (Fig. 3).

\textbf{2.3.} \textbf{Post-visit perception, satisfaction and learning
experience} {}

~~~~~~~~~~~ The majority (\emph{n =} 190, 96\%) of the tourists were
satisfied with bat-watching learning experience (\emph{n =} 190\emph{,}
\emph{p} \textgreater{} \emph{} 0.05 across demographic backgrounds).
Consequently, the overall post-visit satisfaction of tourists was 94\%
(\emph{n =} 185) and significantly differed by age
(?\textsuperscript{2}\emph{=} 9.36, \emph{df =} 4, \emph{p \textless{}}
0.05) and higher satisfaction was noted among middle-aged (20-40 years
old, 97\%) and older (above 40 years old, 93\%) tourists\emph{.} A total
of 86\% (\emph{n =} 169) of the tourists agreed that bat-watching
ecotourism contributes to bat conservation and, was significantly
greater among males and older respondents (above 40 years old) (age:
?\textsuperscript{2} \textsuperscript{\emph{}} \emph{=} 10.3, \emph{df
=} 4, \emph{p =} 0.035; gender: ?\textsuperscript{2}
\textsuperscript{\emph{}} \emph{=} 10.74, \emph{df =} 3, \emph{p =}
0.013). While 80\% (\emph{n =}158\emph{)} (\emph{p \textgreater{}} 0.05
across sociodemographic scales) of the overall sampled tourists agreed
that bat cave conservation is an important initiative in the
Philippines. Lastly, 80\% (\emph{n =} 158) of the respondents perceived
bat conservation as an important environmental initiative in the
Philippines (\emph{p} \textgreater{} \emph{} 0.05 across demographic
backgrounds) (Fig. 3).

\textbf{2.4.} \textbf{Knowledge of ecosystem services and predictors of
conservation attitude} {}

The tourists' knowledge about ecosystem services and willingness to
conserve were measured between pre-visit and post-visit surveys.
Responses did not significantly differ across sociodemographic
backgrounds in both pre-visit and post-visit. In the pre-visit survey,
only 36\% (\emph{n =} 71) of the tourists showed knowledge of bat
ecosystem services, 36\% (\emph{n =} 71) were not sure and 28\% (\emph{n
=} 55) with no knowledge. The female tourists (44\%, \emph{n =} 33) and
those with higher education (46\%, \emph{n =} 46) showed greater
knowledge and awareness about bat ecosystem services than other
participants. Post-visit, responses were consistently higher among
females (91\% vs. 85\% in males) with higher education (64\%, \emph{n =}
63) exhibited greater awareness and acquired knowledge on bat ecosystem
services. Overall, the level of knowledge of ecosystem services
significantly increased in the post-visit survey (Wilcoxon signed-ranks
test, = 35.5, \emph{p \textless{}} 0.0001) with 87\% (\emph{n =}145) of
the tourists become aware (Fig. 4).

When asked about their willingness to conserve bats, 45\% (\emph{n =}
89) of the surveyed tourists showed willingness and a high positive
response (\emph{n =} 89, 45\%) in the pre-visit. A higher positive
response (65\%, \emph{n =} 20) was noted among age group A
(?\textsuperscript{2 \emph{}} \emph{=} 11.01, \emph{df =} 4, \emph{p =}
0.03) and significantly lower willingness among sampled tourists with
basic education (21\% vs. 8\% higher education) (?\textsuperscript{2}
\emph{=} 7.97, \emph{df =} 4, \emph{p=}0.02). Only age showed
significant relationship to post-visit conservation willingness
(?\textsuperscript{2} \emph{=} 13.70, \emph{df =} 4, \emph{p =} 0.01).

The conservation willingness of tourists was assessed both pre-visit and
post-visit. The separate logistic regression models showed significance
in predicting the overall conservation willingness of tourists before
and after they visited the bat cave (Table 1 and 2, respectively). In
the pre-visit model, the age group A versus the reference age group B
showed significance association to the dependent variable (\emph{p =}
0.007, \selectlanguage{greek}\emph{β =}\selectlanguage{english}1.40, OR = 4.05); prior knowledge on bat ecosystem
services also showed positive association to tourists' conservation
willingness (\emph{p \textless{}} 0.0001, \selectlanguage{greek}\emph{β =}\selectlanguage{english} 1.66, OR \emph{=}
5.25) (Table 1).

In the post-visit model, age group was a marginally significant
predictor (age group A to B, \emph{p \textless{}} 0\emph{.}06, \selectlanguage{greek}\emph{β
=}\selectlanguage{english} 1.145, OR = 3.14). The perception of conservation importance of bat
cave tourism showed a strong and positive association to conservation
willingness in the post-visit analysis (\emph{p \textless{}} 0.004,
\selectlanguage{greek}\emph{β =}\selectlanguage{english} 4.08, OR = 59.06). Prior knowledge about bat ecosystem
services (\emph{p \textless{}} 0\emph{.}02, \selectlanguage{greek}\emph{β =}\selectlanguage{english} 0.58, OR = 1.79)
remained a good predictor of conservation willingness and compared to
the post-visit knowledge on bat ecosystem services that showed no
association (Table 2). Yet, there was a significant increase in tourists
with conservation willingness at 61\% post-visit from 45\% (+ 16\%) in
the pre-visit, and increased level of awareness (Wilcoxon signed-ranks
test, \emph{Z} = 261, \emph{p \textless{}} 0.0001) (Fig. 4) indicating
the effectiveness of the bat-watching in changing tourist perception.

\textbf{3.~~~~} \textbf{Discussion}

\textbf{3.1.} \textbf{Tourist attitude and perception of bats}

{}~~~~~~~~~~~ Our study demonstrates the potential of bat-watching
ecotourism to improve public knowledge and conservation willingness of
the public towards bats in the Philippines. The public perception of
bats has an important impact on their conservation (Aziz et al., 2017;
L\selectlanguage{ngerman}ópez\selectlanguage{english}-Baucells et al., 2018; Low et al., 2021). Bat watching was the
primary motivation of tourists to visit MBCS, suggesting prior interest
to bats by the visiting tourists. {Contrary to our expectations, this
study revealed that more tourists have favourable and positive
perception towards bats than reported in many studies} (Musila et al.,
2018; Tanalgo et al., 2016){.}We found a more positive perception among
highly educated respondents than those with basic education. This can be
associated with their prior experience or higher access to knowledge
from their educational experience or background giving them a higher
level of understanding of the natural world (Lim and Wilson, 2019). In
the Philippines, Tanalgo et al. ~(2016) found that respondents with
higher education had a lower willingness to participate in bat hunting
activities or consume bats for subsistence compared to those with lower
education level. Public negative behaviour towards wildlife is driven by
the greater likelihood of encounter and thus the possibility of negative
experiences (Aziz et al., 2017, 2016; Kellert et al., 1996; Tanalgo et
al., 2016; Zaradic et al., 2009). Similar findings by (Tanalgo et al.,
2016), showed that local communities living near caves with large
colonies of bats had more negative perceptions towards bats than those
living further away, and promote intentional culling because they
believe that bats were responsible for destroying their fruit orchards.
In Malaysia, local communities in Tioman Island tend to have a negative
perception towards co-existing with Flying foxes because of their noise
and destruction of fruit crops (Aziz et al., 2017). Similarly, in
Australia, people tend to develop a negative perception of flying foxes
after roosts move into residential communities in urban areas (Tait et
al., 2014).

~~~~~~~~~~~ We found Filipino tourists were more familiar with
Philippine bat species than foreign tourists. The support and
involvement of locals are vital for the effective conservation of
wildlife populations and their habitats. Local citizens have more
exposure to their local biodiversity and environment, and therefore
develop a higher familiarity and understanding of it (Karanth and Nepal,
2012; Souto and Ticktin, 2012; Theobald et al., 2015). Furthermore,
locals may have key roles in species conservation ~(Raymundo and
Caballes, 2016) but this may differ based on cultural values and
experience (Tanalgo et al., 2016; Tanalgo, 2017). However, our analysis
shows that prior experience or exposure with bats was not directly
associated with urban tourists' conservation willingness, which mirrored
tourists' general lack of experience with bats. People's willingness to
support species conservation depends on their knowledge about the
importance of species which varies in social backgrounds
(Lindemann-Matthies and Bose, 2008). For example, urban dwellers have a
lower understanding of wildlife than rural areas because they have less
exposure to natural environments (Kato et al., 2019). In our present
study, prior knowledge of ecosystem services was an important predictor
of conservation willingness before and after bat-watching suggesting the
importance of long-term knowledge. In addition to this, the perception
of the conservation relevance of bat-watching to bats and caves as a
conservation initiative was a strong predictor of conservation
willingness among tourists. This suggests that the public willingness to
support bat management initiatives can be facilitated by wildlife
tourism platforms to enable more effective conservation and management
(Lundberg et al., 2019).

Conservation willingness differed by age and educational attainment. We
found greater conservation willingness among tourists with higher
education attainment. This is comparable to the findings of Musila et
al\emph{.} (2018) in Africa showing that older adults with higher
educational attainment have a more positive perception and support for
bat conservation. But in our study, younger (\textless{} 20 years old)
urban tourists showed higher conservation willingness. One plausible
reason that drives younger tourists' association to conservation
willingness was their access to environmental science education from
secondary to tertiary education, which is included in the modern
Philippine educational curriculum. Previous studies showed that younger
respondents exposed to environment-related activities or education tend
to have increased pro-environmental attitudes (Lieflander and Bogner,
2014) and nature connectedness (Grantzdorffer et al., 2019; Lieflander
and Bogner, 2014). The younger age group is ideal demographics for
sharing conservation awareness and higher influence in changing adult
behaviour towards environmental conservation (Damerell et al., 2013).
Ideally, adapting bat-watching activities friendly for the younger
audience could positively affect and enhance their connectedness to
``uncharismatic'' species, thereby facilitating their conservation. This
is important, given that a lack of information and understanding can
only drive fear and distrust, which act as barriers to conservation.

Our study showed that a large proportion of tourists were satisfied with
bat-watching and learnt more about bats. In the post-visit survey, we
noted that sampled tourists frequently showed higher support for bat
conservation management and increased positive perception towards cave
and bat conservation (e.g., a 16\% increase in the number of tourists
willing to conserve bats). Though it is difficult to conclude if the
observed positive change in level perception is high or low due to
limited studies on bat ecotourism, our findings will serve as a baseline
for future studies investigating the association of ecotourism to
raising public awareness and support towards bat conservation. Further,
we suggest that integrative conservation education (e.g., detailing bat
ecosystem services) and experience-based approaches such as bat cave
watching, and tours could be useful to bolster human-bat relations
(Musila et al., 2018; Trewhella et al., 2005).

\textbf{3.2.} \textbf{Balancing ecotourism and conservation} {}

\emph{~~~~~~~~~~~} Urban tourists perceive bat-watching as an important
initiative to raise awareness for bat conservation, however, we caution
on balancing the positive and negative impacts of bat-watching tourism
to bat population and cave ecosystems (Fig. 5). To effectively sustain
ecotourism, it should follow regulations and focus on conservation or
preservation of natural resources (Kiss, 2004; Ross and Wall, 1999).
Cave tourism is among the key threats for global bats that can stem from
a lack of sustainable management~ (Furey and Racey, 2016; Tanalgo et
al., 2018). The apparent impact of cave ecotourism on bats occurs when
visitors introduce loud noises, add light and cause environmental and
atmospheric changes (Cardiff et al., 2009). These have detrimental
effects on bat physiology and behaviour (Speakman et al., 1991) and
altering reproductive success and patterns of bats (Lim et al., 2018).
The negative impacts of unregulated cave tourism and religious
activities have greater implications in regions where such activities
are famous, and there is high reproductive synchrony among species
(e.g., in Southeast Asia) (Lim et al., 2018). Likewise, cave tourism
increases emerging disease transmission risks spatially and between
humans and bats (e.g., White-nose syndrome in North American bats) (Julg
et al., 2008; Lorch et al., 2016) and may cause bats to shift roosts and
thus further impact population health and viability. Furthermore, the
consequences of the alteration in bat biology and ecology caused by
unregulated tourism have drastic impacts on populations (Phelps et al.,
2018, 2016) and of the provision of their ecosystem services
(Sritongchuay et al., 2016). Regulating tourist activities, human-made
infrastructure and illumination inside the cave are crucial to
sustainably manage caves (Gillieson, 2011).

\textbf{4.~~~~} \textbf{Conclusion: synthesis and implication for
post-COVID-19 conservation management}

\textbf{~~~~~~~~~~~} The potential of ecotourism as a tool for improving
human-bat relations was explored in this study. Specifically, our study
showed the effectiveness of short-term engagement approaches such as
bat-watching by increasing tourists' awareness and conservation
willingness towards bats. We noted varying levels of knowledge and
public perceptions towards bats and the association with
sociodemographic backgrounds. But most importantly tourists'
conservation willingness towards bat conservation was driven by their
knowledge of bat ecosystem services, and their perception of the
conservation relevance of bat cave watching. Our findings conform to one
of the paradigms (i.e., to affect nature conservation) of genuine
purpose and application of ecotourism (Ross and Wall, 1999). However,
further work is needed, as we only targeted urban tourists using key
knowledge indicators. Further, in-depth and comparative studies (e.g.,
different geographic and cultural backgrounds) on conservation
effectiveness of ecotourism to raising conservation willingness and
interest should be developed. Our findings showed that most of the
tourists perceive bats positively. It is critical to take note that
public behaviour towards wildlife may change depending on the current
societal and economic trends (Manfredo et al., 2003). Although bats were
previously feared due to their association with disease, this has
exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic (Zhou et al., 2020). The
fear-mongering portrayal by various media platforms has spread more
rapidly than the virus itself and has led to a public backlash and calls
for colony executions and culls (Zhao, 2020). The global bat
conservation community expects significant changes in public behaviour
towards bats, which may hamper conservation. Thus, we suggest that a
survey on tourist's perception and behaviour towards bats in the
post-COVID-19 period would enable further measures to be developed to
improve people's perceptions of bats, and thus enable conservation
biologists and tourism managers to develop appropriate measures ensuring
the protection of bats and facilitate sustainable tourism.

~Bat conservationists and science communicators thus need to take this
as an important measure to counter misinformation, bolster or restore
positive connections between human and bats in the post-COVID-19.
Prudent and unprejudiced framing of information should be emphasised
when communicating about bats and COVID-19 issues to the public (see
MacFarlane and Rocha 2020), as well as the almost non-existent risk,
provided basic measures are taken (as is true with all wildlife).
Primarily, conservation communication should highlight comprehensible
information about the ecological and economic roles of bats, the
human-bat disease dimensions, and the role of human activities (e.g.,
wildlife meat trade and habitat destruction) on increasing disease
risks, and the value of OneHealth approaches. Effectively and positively
engaging humans with bats will be key to their effective conservation,
here we demonstrate that ecotourism can play that role and could enable
a better and safer co-existence for both taxa.

\textbf{References}

\par\null



\textbf{List of Figures}

\textbf{}\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{figure}[H]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.70\columnwidth]{figures/Figure-1/Figure-1}
\caption{{This is Location of the study site. Monfort Bat Cave Sanctuary (MBCS) is
located in the Southern part of the Philippines (A-B) and holds the
world record for the largest colony for the fruit bat species
\emph{Rousettus amplexicaudatus} (C-D.) a caption
{\label{559836}}%
}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{figure}[H]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.70\columnwidth]{figures/Figure-2/Figure-2}
\caption{{This is a A flow diagram showing the sequence of tourist bat-watching
visit and pre/post-visit survey in Monfort Bat Cave Sanctuary. ~
{\label{232965}}%
}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{figure}[H]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.70\columnwidth]{figures/Figure-3/Figure-3}
\caption{{Distribution of visitors' responses in different indicators between
pre/post-visit surveys, expressed in percentage (\%) of responses. ~
{\label{975394}}%
}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{figure}[H]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.70\columnwidth]{figures/Figure-4/Figure-4}
\caption{{The comparison of tourist' level of knowledge on ecosystem knowledge (A)
and conservation willingness (B) between pre-visit and post-visit
surveys.
{\label{919038}}%
}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{figure}[H]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.70\columnwidth]{figures/Figure-5/Figure-5}
\caption{{Balancing bat-cave tourism benefits. A schematic diagram showing the
potential benefits and the negative impacts of unregulated bat-watching
tourism in caves.
{\label{435654}}%
}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}



\textbf{List of Tables}

\textbf{Table 1} . Results of generalised linear modelling on the
conservation willingness of MBCS visitors during the pre-visit survey.
Values highlighted in bold were significant at \emph{p\textless{}} 0.05.
Model fit measures: AIC= 236.01, \emph{?2} =53.26, df=8,
p\textless{}.001, Nagelkerke pseudo R\textsuperscript{2}=0.32. Note: Age
group A = \textless{} 20 years old, B 20-40 years old=, C =
\textgreater{}40 years old.\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{longtable}[]{@{}lllll@{}}
\toprule
\textbf{Predicting variables} & \selectlanguage{greek}β & \textbf{SE} & \textbf{p} &
\textbf{OR}\tabularnewline
\midrule
\endhead
Gender: & & & &\tabularnewline
Female -- Male & -0.11 & 0.35 & 0.76 & 0.90\tabularnewline
Group: & & & &\tabularnewline
Foreigner -- Filipino & -0.06 & 0.49 & 0.90 & 0.94\tabularnewline
Age group: & & & &\tabularnewline
A -- B & \textbf{1.4} & \textbf{0.52} & \textbf{0.01} &
\textbf{4.05}\tabularnewline
C -- B & 0.5 & 0.40 & 0.21 & 1.66\tabularnewline
Education level: & & & &\tabularnewline
Higher -- Basic & -0.48 & 0.38 & 0.21 & 0.62\tabularnewline
Prior experience and recognition & -0.33 & 0.37 & 0.37 &
0.72\tabularnewline
Knowledge of bat diversity and caves in the Philippines & -0.29 & 0.30 &
0.35 & 0.75\tabularnewline
Prior knowledge on ecosystem services by bats & \textbf{1.66} &
\textbf{0.3} & \textbf{\textless{} .001} & \textbf{5.25}\tabularnewline
\bottomrule
\end{longtable}

\textbf{Table 2.} Results of generalised linear modelling on the
conservation willingness of MBCS visitors in the post-visit. Values
highlighted in bold were significant at \emph{p\textless{}} 0.05. Model
fit measures: AIC = 195.19, \emph{?2} = 87.54, df = 9, p \textless{}
.001, Nagelkerke pseudo R\textsuperscript{2} =.49. Note: Age group A =
\textless{} 20 years old, B = 20-40 years old=, C = \textgreater{} 40
years old.\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{longtable}[]{@{}lllll@{}}
\toprule
\textbf{Predicting variables} & \selectlanguage{greek}β & \textbf{SE} & \textbf{p} &
\textbf{OR}\tabularnewline
\midrule
\endhead
Gender: & & & &\tabularnewline
Female -- Male & 0.06 & 0.40 & 0.88 & 1.06\tabularnewline
Group: & & & &\tabularnewline
Foreigner -- Filipino & -0.37 & 0.52 & 0.48 & 0.69\tabularnewline
Age group: & & & &\tabularnewline
A -- B & 1.15 & 0.62 & 0.06 & 3.14\tabularnewline
C -- B & 0.45 & 0.48 & 0.36 & 1.56\tabularnewline
Education level: & & & &\tabularnewline
Higher -- Basic & 0.25 & 0.41 & 0.54 & 1.29\tabularnewline
Learning and satisfaction values & -0.75 & 1.82 & 0.68 &
0.47\tabularnewline
Perception of the relevance to conservation & \textbf{4.08} &
\textbf{1.43} & \textbf{\textless{}0.01} & \textbf{59.06}\tabularnewline
Prior knowledge on ecosystem services by bats & \textbf{0.58} &
\textbf{0.24} & \textbf{0.02} & \textbf{1.79}\tabularnewline
Enhanced knowledge on ecosystem services by bats & 17.33 & 1116.71 &
0.99 & \textless{}1.00\tabularnewline
\bottomrule
\end{longtable}

\selectlanguage{english}
\FloatBarrier
\end{document}

