TY - JOUR
T1 - Opportunities and limitations of contingent valuation surveys to determine national park entrance fees
T2 - Evidence from Costa Rica
AU - Shultz, Steven
AU - Pinazzo, Jorge
AU - Cifuentes, Miguel
PY - 1998/2
Y1 - 1998/2
N2 - A contingent valuation method (CVM) survey to determine foreign and resident willingness to pay (WTP) for return visits to two different Costa Rican national parks was administered in 1995. WTP values were estimated for future entrance fees associated with proposed improvements to infrastructure and services in the Poas Volcano and the Manuel Antonio parks. Resulting logistic CVM models were statistically robust and mean WTP for entrance fees differed among the parks and were considerably higher than current fees. Results indicate that even in a developing country setting, the CVM is a useful tool to help determine park entrance fees in spite of the following methodological limitations which are recommended for further study: the need to include potential park visitors in survey samples; the lack of detailed information framing and contingent scenarios for park related WTP questions; and the threat of cultural-strategic biases when surveying residents of a developing country.
AB - A contingent valuation method (CVM) survey to determine foreign and resident willingness to pay (WTP) for return visits to two different Costa Rican national parks was administered in 1995. WTP values were estimated for future entrance fees associated with proposed improvements to infrastructure and services in the Poas Volcano and the Manuel Antonio parks. Resulting logistic CVM models were statistically robust and mean WTP for entrance fees differed among the parks and were considerably higher than current fees. Results indicate that even in a developing country setting, the CVM is a useful tool to help determine park entrance fees in spite of the following methodological limitations which are recommended for further study: the need to include potential park visitors in survey samples; the lack of detailed information framing and contingent scenarios for park related WTP questions; and the threat of cultural-strategic biases when surveying residents of a developing country.
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U2 - 10.1017/S1355770X98000072
DO - 10.1017/S1355770X98000072
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0000555951
SN - 1355-770X
VL - 3
SP - 131
EP - 149
JO - Environment and Development Economics
JF - Environment and Development Economics
IS - 1
ER -