The Willingness of Tourists to Pay for Restoration of Andaman Coastal Ecosystems

Abstract

      The number of tourists to Phangnga marine national parks has grown. The resultant consumption of natural resources is a cause of deterioration in the environment. and is unsustainable. The purposes of this work are 1) To assess the current situation and deterioration problems, 2) To assess the willingness of tourists to pay for access, and3) To suggest an economic guideline for sustainable use by tourists.

      The primary data were obtained from a systematic sample of 400 respondents and were processed in the Log it model and the R language with Double Bound Close-Ended questions to analyze the rate of Willingness to Pay (WTP) and the Contingent Value (CV)in order to discover the optimal rate and direct use value.

      The results show that 1) there has been a deterioration of natural resources in the research area; 2) The WTP of tourists to national parks is greater than the current entrance fee. The Surin islands national park has the highest value while Ao Phangnga has the lowest. The WTP of foreign tourists is around twice that of Thai tourists. The direct use value is 309 million baht per annum. 3) Entrance fees should be adjusted (upwards) and an environmental fund for the area established, and used for maintenance of the national parks.