Modeling Willingness to Pay for Coastal Tourism Resource Protection in Ko Chang Marine National Park, Thailand

The value of non-market resources is important information for the nature-based park investment and management. In this paper, we estimate visitors' willingness to pay (WTP) an entrance fee for beach resource protection of the Ko Chang Marine Park in Thailand using a standard contingent valuati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Asia Pacific journal of tourism research 2015-05, Vol.20 (5), p.515-540
Main Authors: Piriyapada, Sunida, Wang, Erda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
a logit model
contingent valuation
dichotomous choice
Economic models
National parks
Willingness to pay
WTP
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Summary:The value of non-market resources is important information for the nature-based park investment and management. In this paper, we estimate visitors' willingness to pay (WTP) an entrance fee for beach resource protection of the Ko Chang Marine Park in Thailand using a standard contingent valuation method of a single-bounded (SB) and double-bounded (DB) dichotomous choice format. An on-site stratified sampling survey of 409 beach visitors was conducted at the park along the White Sand Beach shoreline. By comparing the two survey methods, the average WTP for a Thai beach visitor is about $12.01 under the SB elicitation survey and $7.27 per adult per visit under the DB elicitation method, respectively. It turns out that the foreign visitors' WTP is twice as much as that of Thai visitors' WTP. These can be translated to the lower and upper bounds of an aggregated value ranging between $10.33 million and $17.41 million per annum. The policy implications for the park management are addressed.
ISSN:1094-1665
1741-6507
DOI:10.1080/10941665.2014.904806