An Analysis of Tourist Preferences for the Development of Ecotourism in Uaxactun, Guatemala, Using Choice Experiments

[摘要] Ecotourism is becoming more attractive because it is believed that it makes it possible to improveincome generation without harming the environment. These goals are sometimes not met, however,and environmentally unfriendly or economically unsuccessful ecotourism tends to prevail in manydeveloping countries, questioning the validity of its original concept. Therefore, careful assessment ofcultural, environmental, and economic aspects is necessary when introducing ecotourism to a region.This paper uses choice experiments as a method to find tourists’ willingness to pay (WTP), and itanalyzes preferences of tourists to assess the financial potential of the future ecotourism in the villageof Uaxactún, Guatemala. Villagers in Uaxactún are faced with a need for another means of income toproduce the concession fee for the Maya Biosphere Reserve. With their traditional forest harvesting,which is their primary source of income, becoming unsustainable because of the influx of populationinto the village, villagers are interested in developing ecotourism.Three hypothetical ecotourism options were developed with input from the local residents, andthree prices, reflecting potential costs, were developed for each option. The survey was conducted of87 international tourists and 12 local tourists. Survey data were analyzed using the multinomial logitmodel. The result shows that both sets of tourists have marginal willingness to pay lower than thepotential costs of ecotourism, suggesting the difficulty of financial success of ecotourism in Uaxactún.The results should be discussed in combination with the cultural and environmental aspects as thecommunity decides whether to proceed with ecotourism-based development.

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] Science

[关键词] Natural Resources and Environment;Science;Natural Resources and Environment