Swimming with Whale Sharks in Oslob, Cebu, Philippines. Ethical tourism?

Swimming with Whale Sharks in Oslob, Cebu, Philippines. Breathtaking… amazing… never to be forgotten 🤩🥰. Getting up close and personal with these gentle giants is a top 10 world travel bucketlist experience! We took our children and they also were mesmerised by these incredible animals. They are actually classifed as the biggest fish in the sea. In the small fishing village of Oslob, whale sharks were seen as a problem for the fishing trade until 10yrs ago. The fishermen realised they could feed them and move them so they wouldnt interfere with their fishing. The word spread about Oslob being a whale shark hotspot and now hundreds of tourists come flooding into this place for a guaranteed 30 min swim with whale sharks at £7 a session. Up to 1,000 people a day do this. Its gotten out of control. Here are some numbers. Picture this. 15 boats in a 30 min session carrying 150 people in an area the size of a football field create a long alleyway for 8 - 10 whale sharks as they swim through the middle back and forth like they are in a parade whilst dozens of people surround them for selfie photos. The rules say no touching but it is inevitable whether its an accident or on purpose. With so many people, its hard to keep track of what’s going on. On the plus side, the whale sharks are never harmed neither are the tourists. It is unclear how feeding the whale sharks will effect them in the long run. The whale sharks veer off their normal habitat and closer to shore knowing they will be fed every morning. It is unclear how this disrupts their migratory patterns. Is it effecting their long term survival? Other parts of the Philippines also offer swimming with whale sharks (Donsol, Luzon and Sogod Bay) but its no where near the scale of Oslob and practiced where the whale sharks dont veer off their migratory path. Nothing is guaranteeed for the small groups of tourists on these trips as there is no feeding. Sounds a bit more like ethical tourism than Oslob doesnt it? Don’t get me wrong, Oslob has seen lots of economic benefit from the tourism which has helped to create prosperity for most of its small population but is it sustainable? Is it responsible? And the activity has done a great job of raising awareness for these gentle giants who are classed as endangered by the IUCN. My final view on this is that what is going on in Oslob is now not responsible or ethical tourism. Whilst I am happy i did get to share the water with these magical creatures, I wish I had chosen another part of the Philippines to have this experience in a more responsible way. I’m not saying that the whole Oslob operation should be closed down but there needs to be more education on the impacts of feeding them and interfering with their natural habits. There needs to be controls put in place to reduce the number of boats/visitors. Maybe its simply about increasing the price. Whether we choose to ride elephants, get close to drugged up tigers, take selfies with whale sharks, it’s up to us as responsible tourists to decide where we spend our money and be conscious of how this effects generations to come. 💗 LINKS 💗 SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: www.instagram.com/meet_the_arshads Facebook:   / meetthearshads   OUR WEBSITE/BLOG www.meetthearshads.com DIRECT CONTACT FOR COLLABORATION AND MEDIA ENQUIRIES meetthearshads7@gmail.com ------------------------------------------------- 👨‍👨‍👧‍👧 ABOUT US We are a family of 7: The parents: Mum (Dionne) and Dad (Nadeem) The teenager: Jayden (aged 15) The twins: Skyla and Kobie (aged 9) Last but not least: Aniyah and Nakhai (aged 7 & 6) Our life in the UK was bog standard and relatively uneventful. Bringing our children up in the standard expected way as part of a rigid system was something we no longer wanted to do. We weren't really spending any quality time together as a family, just existing. Life was passing us by. Something had to change. The pandemic was the push we needed to make those changes. We decided to sell everything and travel the world whilst homeschooling our children. On 23rd July 2022, we left the UK and have never looked back. We are sharing our journey with you as we believe that there are many other families who have been feeling similar to how we did but have yet to find the courage to chase their dreams. We are living proof that it really is possible. We would love to hear from you if you are thinking about taking that leap or are already out there travelling and would like to meet up. Wishing you all the best. The Arshads x