It might be more than a resort attraction -- research that appeared in the journal Anthrozoos found that people who swam with dolphins also experienced a decrease in anxiety.
Clinical psychologist Nichola Webb, Ph.D., examined perceived psychological and physiological well-being in 99 individuals who swam with captive dolphins at the Underwater World Marine Park in Western Australia. Webb gave participants questionnaires before and after their swim to measure general contentment, then compared their responses to those of 29 randomly selected people who swam without the mammals.
She found that participants who swam with dolphins had a greater sense of well-being both before and after their swim than did the other swimmers, suggesting that both the anticipation of swimming with dolphins and the act itself positively affect well-being. And in a similar study, Webb found that anxiety was significantly lower in 21 individuals who swam with wild dolphins at the Bunbury Dolphin Discovery Centre than in 19 randomly selected participants who swam solo.
