Tourist Preferences for Seamount Conservation in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, social-science survey June 2017
2022
Roberts, J Murray | Marti-Puig, Patricia | Tanner, Michael | Simpson, Katherine
To better understand tourist's perceptions and attitudes toward conservation of seamounts and their associated biodiversity a contingent valuation survey was designed and implemented to respondents in the Galapagos Archipelago. The survey aimed to understand initial willingness to pay values which would guide further research at the Galapagos National Park regarding the tourist's management preferences. Contingent valuation is a stated preference technique, which uses questionnaires to create a realistic, but hypothetical market, for respondents to indicate their willingness to pay for a change in an environmental good (Mitchell and Carson, 1989). Scenarios are constructed which offer different policy alternatives to the current status quo. The respondent is asked to state whether they would support an alternative policy option depending on what the new policy will provide, how this will be delivered and how much it will cost (Carson, 2000). If the study is well designed and carefully tested in advance the answers to the survey should reveal the respondent's true willingness to pay for a given change. Our respondents are asked whether they would support an increase in the entrance fee to the GMR with the additional revenues used to fund research programs into seamount conservation and diversity.
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