Participants will be given access to locations that are conducive to birdwatching, as well as binoculars, birdseed, and ‘early bird’ check-in. Destinations include Voco St. Augustine on Anastasia Island off the coast of Florida, which is home to pink roseate spoonbills; and the Voco St. James Hotel in New Orleans, which boasts many avian species including brown pelicans thanks to the proliferation of nearby swamps, marshes, bayous and forests.
Elsewhere, Singapore’s Voco Orchard allows guests access to wildlife reserve Bird Paradise, which houses over 3,000 birds from different natural biomes, including the South African wetlands and Southeast Asian paddy fields.
Recently, birdwatching – or ‘birding’ – has swelled in popularity, with 60% more people now logging sightings on global bird identification app eBird, and participation in the global Great Backyard Bird Count doubling in recent years (MarketPlace, 2023). Boosting its appeal, studies prove that just seeing or hearing birds can improve mental wellbeing (Scientific Reports, 2023).
This initiative taps into a travel/leisure trend whereby individuals positively contribute to the natural world by taking on ‘citizen scientist’ activities that incorporate science, biology and climate-change prevention.