Mountain gorillas are one of the few great ape populations that have increased in recent decades, partly due to ecotourism revenue funding conservation. Welfare considerations in tourism management are critical for sustaining this success.
Mountain gorilla tourism welfare requires balancing conservation benefit (revenue funding protection) against welfare costs of habituation and human contact. Habituated gorillas are dependent on continued human management for their protection - they are neither fully wild nor fully captive. Disease risk from human contact is the primary welfare concern: respiratory viruses that cause mild illness in humans can be fatal for gorillas. COVID-19 closures demonstrated the gorillas' vulnerability to revenue disruption and the need for alternative conservation funding. Welfare-positive tourism requires strict protocol enforcement, ranger welfare support, and health monitoring of both gorillas and tourism staff.