| Tourism in many developing countries is the main engine for economic development through foreign exchange earnings and job generation.In the case of Ecuador,this is not an exception.Ecuador's government has strived in recent years to become a leader in sustainable tourism growth within South America to maximize its economic benefits.In the year 2018 alone,the tourism industry of Ecuador generated a revenue of $2.3 billion and represented 2%of its GDP.Tourism is beneficial to a country,mainly in conserving its natural resources such as endangered species and scenic preservation.However,if the right policies are not in place,tourism can be a double-edged sword due to its disadvantages like the overuse of natural resources and environmental degradation.One of the critical issues is how to effectively deal with the inherent contradiction between resource protection and tourism exploitation.To address those challenges,the nonmarket valuation has evolved into a powerful tool being used in nature-based park management and policy-making.Allowing its capability of revealing value information of a park resources,which is an important input for analysis of benefit and cost trade-offs to facilitate effective nonmarket resource allocation.This research analyzes the number one tourist attraction in Ecuador,which is not only the first declared UNESCO World Heritage Site but also one of the most internationally acclaimed national parks in the world,the Galapagos Islands National Park.Despite the increasing number of tourists to the Galapagos National Park(GNP)over the past two decades,the tourism industry pays little attention to tourists' distinct preferences towards the park's attributes,including both its natural resources and management.To "monetize" the benefits of these attributes,the use of nonmarket valuation techniques is required.By doing so,this study focuses on three aspects,including innovation of evaluation method,correction of traditional methods,and application of evaluation results to have an in-depth exploration on theory and methods of the evaluation of the park's recreational attributes.At first,the study investigates the park's attributes and identifies the preferences that impact tourists' travel decisions in the GNP.By using a stated preference questionnaire of recreational attributes found in the GNP to more than 960 national and international tourists,the economic value of the park's attributes was estimated.The study focuses on Santa Cruz,Isabela,and San Cristobal Island:the three most inhabited Islands of the archipelago.A total of 15 recreation attributes were selected for consideration:endangered species,prevalence of garbage,site infrastructure,air quality,scenic preservation,endemic animals,endemic plants,crowdedness,volcanic activity,water quality,introduced plants,introduced birds,local population,airfare,and entrance fees.Second,we developed a complex Choice Experiment(CE)model through a conditional logit(CL)and random parameter logit(RPL)regressions,the first of its kind applied in the GNP,to allocate the value tourists are willing to pay for the 15 park attributes analyzed.The results obtained indicate that the park management of the GNP could generate sizable financial gains by increasing the protection of animal species,reducing the amount of garbage,maintaining the scenic preservation,safeguarding endemic animals,defending endemic plants,and upkeeping the local population.On the other hand,endangering animal species,increasing the amount of garbage,degrading air quality,damaging the infrastructure facilities,increasing the number of people per site,focusing on the volcanic activity of the Island,worsening the water quality,bringing more introduced plants,increasing the number of introduced birds,and charging a higher value for the airfare to the Islands could cause severe economic loss associated with a reduction of tourists' demand,hence' diminishing the willingness to pay(WTP)for trips to the GNP.Third,the results from this study contribute both the empirical and theoretical literature by providing for the first time a plausible solution for the protection and management of the GNP.We provide policy suggestions to better allocate resources in the GNP and other UNESCO World Heritage Sites with similar characteristics as our area of study.Holding the UNESCO world heritage status brings many benefits only if the right policies are implemented and enforced.The creation of appropriate policies could bring higher revenue,management control,and conservation guidelines in the GNP and other UNESCO World Heritage Sites.In summary,the novelty of this study involves both theoretical and empirical contributions:First,our study presents the first-ever comprehensive estimate of the total economic use value of attributes found in land-tourist-sites in the GNP by examining tourist preferences.Second,it adds to the limited number of nonmarket valuation studies by estimating the WTP of the GNP attributes and obtaining its economic value by using the CE model and applying CL and RPL regressions.Finally,this study provides critical information for effective environmental research in natural resource management and the basis for policy decision making in the GNP and UNESCO World Heritage sites. |
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