Mountain gorilla tourism has been credited with funding conservation but raises welfare concerns around habituation, disease transmission and stress from visitor contact.
Mountain gorilla ecotourism presents a carefully managed trade-off between welfare risks and conservation benefits. Habituated gorillas appear behaviorally relaxed around managed visitor groups, but the habituation process itself involved significant stress. Disease transmission risk is real - respiratory infections from tourists have killed gorillas. Visitor protocols (minimum distances, face masks, group size limits) mitigate but do not eliminate risk. The conservation funding generated by tourism has contributed to population recovery, suggesting carefully regulated tourism can support rather than undermine gorilla welfare overall.