engleski

A contingent valuation of public goods in tourism: Estimating the preservation value of bottlenose dolphins in the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Marine habitat degradation raises concerns for the population of vulnerable marine species. A Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was applied to estimate the value of environmental amenities associated with the preservation of a bottlenose dolphin population that lives in the Cres-Lošinj archipelago in Croatia. As the CVM is based on stated rather than observed behaviour, a comprehensive survey was conducted to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) as well as to identify the main predictors of WTP. The population of interest was nautical tourists having berth/moored in two marinas in the archipelago. A stratified quota sample was used. The data were collected by personal interviews with nautical tourists using a highly structured questionnaire as a survey instrument. Following a detailed description of the bottlenose dolphin preservation scenario, an environmental tax per mooring/berth day was used as a payment vehicle for eliciting the WTP. The survey was conducted in August and September 2016. A total of 210 questionnaires were collected. The nautical tourists were on average willing to pay 1.8 Euro per day in order to better preserve the dolphin population. Application of Tobit regression revealed that loyal nautical guests, i.e. those with more previous visits to the Cres-Lošinj archipelago, those who would like to learn about dolphins, those with a mooring/berth at the island of Lošinj, as well as female guests were willing to pay significantly higher day tax for the dolphin preservation. On the other hand, guests staying longer in the area as well as domestic nautical tourists were willing to pay less.

Contingent valuation method ; Tobit model ; Tourism ; Willingness to pay

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