During the Joseon period, the East Sea would be called ‘Gyeonghae’ due to a large number of whales. In the Republic of Korea, whaling was locally permitted in 1946. However, the number drastically dropped because the hunting of the marine mammal had already been carried out in Russia, the U.S. and Japan since 1800s. Before a moratorium on commercial whaling was introduced by the International Whaling Commission(IWC) in 1986, whale populations in the East Sea had plunged. Furthermore, Korean gray whales and fin whales weren’t found anymore in that area. With the suspension, whale hunting was banned in Korea as well. Even so, accidentally caught whales have been allowed to be distributed on the market with respect for local food culture. With the establishment of Whale Museum and hosting of the 57th Annual Meeting of the International Whaling Commission(IWC) at Jangsaengpo in 2005, whale tourism was facilitated in earnest. This whale tourism has been operated by Nam-gu Office and Nam-gu City Management Corporation in Ulsan. However, the popularity of whale tourism has increased a demand for whale meat. At the same time, there has been concern over decrease in whale populations because of illegal whaling. In addition, a conflict between the use and protection of whales has caused confusion in tourism identity. Actually, there is a serious doubt on the sustainability of whale tourism due to the decade-long deficit and excessive investments. This study attempts to define a concept of whale tourism and propose a future direction for the sustainable growth and development of Korea’s whale tourism industry after developing such comprehensive assessment indicators as a basic research for the introduction of sustainable whale tourism. To achieve the aim of this study, AHP(Analytic Hierarchy Process) was chosen as a main research tool and the factors were ranked by a comprehensive analysis of principal factors and detail factors. The current study showed the following results. First, ecological environment(0.430) was indicated the most important factor of whale tourism assessment indicators. Moreover, Population(0.1302), Action for Cetacean protection(0.1031), Governance(0.0898) were critical factors. On the other hand, Accommodations(0.0085), Whale meat(0.0088) were unimportant factors than others.

Abstract
 Ⅰ. 서 론
 Ⅱ. 이론적 배경
  1. 지속가능한 관광의 고찰
  2. 고래관광의 정의
  3. 고래관광에 관한 선행연구 검토
  4. 관광분야 AHP 이론에 관한 선행연구 검토
 Ⅲ. 실증적 분석
  1. 연구설계
  2. 인구학적 특성
  3. 결과
 Ⅳ. 결 론
 REFERENCES

• 김수연(부경대학교 해양수산경영학과) | Su-Yeon Kim (Department of Marine & Fisheries Business and Economics, Pukyong National University) Corresponding author