Factors determining tourist’s willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation in ba vi national park ha noi viet nam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY FOREST RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FACULTY STUDENT THESIS FACTORS DETERMINING TOURIST’S WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN BA VI NATIONAL PARK, HA NOI, VIET NAM Student name: Le Bach Yen Student ID: 1453091271 Class: K59 Natural Resources Management Course: 2014-2018 Major: Natural resources management Advanced Education Program Developed in Collaboration with Colorado State University, USA Supervisor: Ass.Prof.Tran Quang Bao Hanoi, September, 2018 CONTENTS ABSTRACT CHAPTER1 INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Introduction Goal and objectives 2.1 Goal 2.2 Objectives General information about Ba Vi National Park 3.1 Natural Condition 3.2 Function of National Park 3.3.Biodiversity value: 10 3.4 Tourism status 10 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 12 2.1.Contingent valuation method 12 2.2 Data collection 12 2.3 Data analysis 15 CHAPTER 3.RESULTS 19 3.1 Socio-demographic characteristics of variables 19 3.2 Information related to the National Park 21 3.3 Estimated Travel costs of Visitors 25 3.4 Factors effecting to visitor‟s willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation 25 3.4.1 The correlation between the surveyed factors and visitor‟s willingness to pay determination 25 3.4.2 The factors influencing to the determination of visitor‟s willingness to pay 26 3.5 Visitor‟s willingness to pay 28 CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS 32 4.1 Tourist‟s perception and attitude 32 4.2 Factors influencing willingness to pay decision for biodiversity conservation 32 4.3 Biodiversity and tourism benefits 35 4.4 Suggestions 36 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS 37 5.1 Conclusions 37 5.2 Limitations 38 REFERENCES 39 APPENDIX 41 LIST OF TABLES Table List of dependence variables 14 Table Socio-demographic characteristics of the visitors 20 Table Amount of people and time to stay in national park 22 Table Satisfaction level of tourists about national park's values 24 Table Significant correlation of factors to the decision of visitor‟s willingness to pay 26 Table Classification table of predicting of determination of visitor‟s willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation 27 Table Factors affect to determination of visitors willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation 27 Table Income and willingness to pay Cross tabulation 30 Table Average willingness to pay 31 Table 10.Ranking of influential factors 34 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Location of Ba Vi National Park Figure Total tourist arrivals and revenue of Ba Vi national park 11 Figure Frequency of visit 21 Figure Purpose of the trip 21 Figure Visitor‟s interest in national park‟s values 23 Figure Tourists assess biodiversity conservation 24 Figure Visitors assess ticket cost 25 Figure Proportion of agreement to pay 28 Figure Reasons for unwillingness to pay 29 Figure 10 Willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation 31 Figure Ba Vi national park Figure Total tourist arrivals and revenue of Ba Vi national park 11 Figure Frequency of visit 21 Figure Purpose of the trip 21 Figure Visitor‟s interest in national park‟s values 23 Figure Tourists assess biodiversity conservation 24 Figure Visitors assess ticket cost 25 Figure Proportion of agreement to pay 28 Figure Reasons for unwillingness to pay 29 Figure 10 Willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation .31 Acknowledgements I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Ass.Prof.Tran Quang Bao for his valuable guidance, suggestions and encouragement The idea of developing this thesis is original from the reality of developing tourism rapidly in Ba Vi National Park That is great opportunity for me to my study “Factors determining visitor‟s willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation” I am thankful to Dr.Tran Minh Tuan-Head of science and international cooperation and Mrs.Chu Le Thuy-Administrative manager helped me a lot when I practiced and collected data when I was in Ba Vi National Park Finally, I would like to offer my regard to all person and Vietnam National University of Forestry directly or indirectly support me during I this study ABSTRACT Despite the fact that there has been a significant increase in interest in the sustainable management of protected areas, many still fail to meet conservation goals Considering that the availability of adequate financial resources and the general public‟s interest toward environmental conservation both play such an important role in the successful performance of protected areas, it is of great importance to investigate local residents‟ and tourist‟ attitudes and perceptions regarding protected areas This will help gain knowledge of the level of financial and social support they would be willing to give to environmental protection and biodiversity conservation in protected areas In recent years, Ba Vi National Park attracts thousands of visitors each year, however the finance of National Park has been lacking To elicit attitudes and perceptions of visitors regarding protected areas, as well as their willingness to pay (WTP) for biodiversity protection, a survey was carried out inside National Park Results indicated that tourists have higher awareness of the importance of the protected area, exhibit greater appreciation of the existence of the park and are willing ness to pay quite high was VND 22,140(US$1.08) each person beside entrance fees to support conservation Finding factors affect to willingness to pay and total values by using Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) CHAPTER1 INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Introduction In adopting the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, by decision X/2, the Conference of the Parties recognized that bringing about meaningful changes to the status of biodiversity was a long-term endeavor Thus, a vision for 2050 was adopted as part of the Strategic Plan The 2050 Vision is “Living in harmony with nature” where “by 2050, biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people”(CBD,2011) However, degradation of global biodiversity resources in recent times still is the greatest concern, thus increasing awareness of the significance of these resources in the stability of ecosystem functions is important task of each country It is believed that the biodiversity resources form the basis for sustainable natural functions, and also provide potential for human use, which include the opportunity for scientific research as well as recreational benefit, such as ecotourism (Nijkamp, Vindigni, and nunes, 2008) Tourism and biodiversity are closely linked both in terms of impacts and dependency Many types of tourism rely directly on ecosystem services and biodiversity (ecotourism, agritourism, wellness tourism, adventure tourism, etc.) Tourism uses recreational services and supply services provided by ecosystems Tourists are looking for cultural and environmental authenticity, contact with local communities and learning about flora, fauna, ecosystems and their conservation (European Comission, 2010) On the other hand, too many tourists, infrastructures, and services can have a negative, degrading effect on biodiversity that mean the development of tourism requires every tourism places carefully planning and management to avoid and reduce negative impacts on biodiversity Therefore, tourism has a strong effect to biodiversity loss as well as a role in its conservation Vietnam is one of the world‟s most biologically diverse countries, with 10 percent of the world‟s mammal, bird and fish species in habitation Forty percent of local plant species exist only in Vietnam Diverse ecosystems provide critical goods and services to the Vietnamese people through the provisioning of ecosystem services, including clean water, soil stability, buffers against storms and climate shocks, and a basis for tourism (USAID, 2018).Vietnam has 33 national parks and 174 Protected Areas, however, Vietnam also is hot pot of the loss of biodiversity and population has continued to grow making Vietnam one of the most densely populated countries in Asia The increase in population density, along with deforestation and environmental degradation, has created a real crisis in upland agriculture areas, leading to serious degradation of ecosystems and natural resources under the pressure of free and unplanned migration, especially the Central Highlands is an example Due to the lack of land and capital, poor people have to overexploit land and natural resources in order to support their lives, rapidly degrading these resources and leading to the decline of biodiversity Shifting cultivation practices have caused the loss of forests, degradation of land, and creation of vast barren areas (CBDVietnam, 2014) Therefore, finding solutions create potential finance sources which can be efficiency for restoring biodiversity, sustainable forest protection and management as well as biodiversity conservation In the last few decades, many measurement methods have been proposed to assign value to ecosystem services (Christie et al.2012) Costanza et al estimated the value of global annual ecosystem services at about US$33 trillion (at1995 values) (1997, cited in Costanza et al.2014) In 2011, total global ecosystem services were estimated at US$145 trillion/year (at 2007 Willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation 4% 1% 10.000 5% 8% 14% 20.000 40.000 50.000 22% 46% 60.000 80.000 Figure 10 Willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation Average WTP is estimated by the nonparametric method, shown in the table The average WTP for the biodiversity conservation is VND 22,140 Table Average willingness to pay j [ S( ] 0 74 74/100 74(10000-0)/100 10,000 10 66 66/100 66(20000-10000)/100 20,000 34 30 30/100 30(40000-20000)/100 40,000 16 14 14/100 14(50000-40000)/100 50,000 10 10/100 10(60000-50000)/100 60,000 4/100 4(80000-60000) 80,000 1/100 1(100000-80000)/100 100,000 0 Total 22,140 With total tourist‟s arrival in 2017 is 379,838, total value of biodiversity conservation is VND 8,409,613,320 31 CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Tourist’s perception and attitude Most of respondents claim that tourists are attracted quite equally by almost choices about interesting in National Park‟s values (figure 5), 16% of biodiversity values and 12% of environmental quality ranking in the 4th and 5th in the list but it not much different compare with others in the top ranking In the fact, when they come to national park, almost of them was satisfied of overall National Park‟s value Natural landscape, environmental quality, biodiversity values are top three of satisfaction of tourists In addition, 60% of respondents think that biodiversity conservation is important which were the high rate and a remarkable signal to biodiversity conservation activities (figure 6.) That improves the responsibility of National Park, all of companies which were leased forest and land in there was quiet good in preserving landscape to attract tourist, also developing tourism But 40% left think that biodiversity conservation is normal and unimportant thus the answer is not a small proportion so that might let National Park leaders think about policy to improve the attitude of tourists 4.2 Factors influencing willingness to pay decision for biodiversity conservation Ten factors related to willing to pay for biodiversity conservation (Age; Gender; Education level; Income; Zone; Frequency; Purpose; Total cost; Ticket cost assessment; Biodiversity assessment) By applying binary logistic regression method which determine statistically three factors that effect to willingness to pay Income The demand for tourism in Ba Vi National Park has been increasing each year, Walsh (1986) provided an outline of the effect of price elasticity of demand for various recreational 32 activities Price elasticity of demand on recreational activity is generally low when the proportion of income spent on it is low (Kamri, T.2013) So that visitor‟s income in the high level group will pay higher conservation fee than low group, the number of willingness to pay also is higher In the survey of Le et al.(2016) show that income had significant positive effects on WTP for conserving the ecosystem at Tam Dao National Park at the 95% confidence interval In this study, income also is one of the factors effect to the decision of visitor‟s willingness to pay Suppose that an initial probability of willingness to pay is 10% and other factors not change, the willingness to pay of visitors which has higher level of income is predicted to be 45.8% It significant increase 35.8% compared with the initial probability Income variable, we have ; ; Ticket cost assessment Cause in survey visitors was asked that willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation beside entrance fee when they come to national park 68% of answer disagree of paying for conservation, they think that the ticket cost is very expensive or expensive Suppose that an initial probability of willingness to pay is 10% and other factors not change, the willingness to pay of visitors which has negative ticket cost assessment is predicted to be 0.5% It significant decrease 9.5% compared with the initial probability Ticket cost assessment variable, we have ; 33 ; Biodiversity conservation assessment Biodiversity conservation is an important task for all of us to take care of our Biodiversity and we should try to maintain it The respondents of visitors about biodiversity of National Park is the great signal that biodiversity conservation has been become one of the most factors which can attract visitors Suppose that an initial probability of willingness to pay is 10% and other factors not change, the willingness to pay of visitors which has positive biodiversity conservation assessment is predicted to be 87.6% It significant increase 77.6% compared with the initial probability Biodiversity conservation assessment variable, we have ; ; After analyzing factors affect to visitor‟s willingness to pay by apply binary logistic model and calculate probability The ranking of factors in influent level are following variables: Biodiversity conservation, income, ticket cost Table 10.Ranking of influential factors Independent variables Biodiversity B Increase/ Exp Decrease (B) Influential rate order 4.154 43.686 87.6% 77.6% Income 2.030 11.131 45.8% 35.8% Ticketcost assessment -3.715 0.24 0.5% 9.5% assessment Dependent variable: Decision of local people on visitor‟s willingness to pay 34 4.3 Biodiversity and tourism benefits As mentioned, the estimation of biodiversity benefits depends on three main variables Biodiversity is key factors will attract more tourists to the resource and thus yield increasing biodiversity benefits over time These benefits are estimated to reach a maximum level of VND 8,409,613,320 in 2017 with the WTP equal VND 22,140 ( US $ 0.92) This amount of money will make main financial sources for conservation activities Public valuation studies of biodiversity conservation, ecosystems, and nature services have employed many methods Among such studies, some have estimated the WTP of Vietnamese people for conserving biodiversity or ecosystems and found it to vary between US$0.46/visit and US$6.3/household/year Nguyen & Tran (1999) found that people were willing to pay US$0.95/visit to improve biodiversity conservation facilities at Cuc Phuong National Park Dang & Nguyen (2009) estimated that the respondents were willing to pay US$0.46/person for biodiversity conservation at Lo Go- Xa Mat National Park(Le el at 2015) When maintain and develop biodiversity values, the frequency of visitors come backs to National Park cause beautiful landscapes and quality goods and services That is main attraction of visitors to come to National Park, the improvement of this is regular visitors increasing year by year So that probability of increasing financial for National Park will make benefit to National Park However, the pressure of increasing population in Ha Noi, specially the in the area surrounding National Park create challenges to management that is the reason while each year National Park has to pay 1,2 billion VND for project belong to villages Moreover, payment from National Park mainly pay for plantation and protection forest which account for nearly billion VND but just small amount of finance is paid for biodiversity conservation, similar with the 35 outside finance is from AEON Japan which is just served for plantation forest, in 2016 they support VND 200 million, in 2017 they provide VND 100 million (Ba Vi National Park) That is the reason why the finance from willing to pay for biodiversity conservation is very important to protect what the park has and just biodiversity values can be attract tourist and develop tourism 4.4 Suggestions Base on the findings, policy makers would be able to develop biodiversity conservation program Raising awareness of visitors as well as local people thence may get better outcome Managers of National Park should consider introducing rare and endangered animals and preserving these species into the educational program If the fund for the biodiversity conservation is implemented:  Program organizers should provide information about biodiversity conservation to communicate the purpose of this project to the people  The collection and management unit of this fund should choose the collection method appropriate money and trust for the people.9 36 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS 5.1 Conclusions Biodiversity conservation is necessary for National Park to avoid biodiversity loss in and around protected areas Due to the dual nature of conservation, protected areas management is faced with challenges that arise from meeting both conservation requirements and visitors‟ expectations (Suck all et al 2009) Awareness levels regarding environmental issues and the protected areas‟ importance in biodiversity conservation with proximity to the protected area (Petrosillo et al 2007).Tourists have significantly more positive attitudes and would be more willing to pay to support conservation efforts within Ba Vi National Park The biodiversity values strongly influence to willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation Overall, tourist put more concern about natural landscape, environmental quality, biodiversity values, that are positive signal of tourist‟s attitude forward to biodiversity conservation Results suggest that differences level of income will regarding an individual‟s willingness to pay to support conservation within Ba Vi National Park Low income is pay less than higher level of income In addition, the proportion of higher income which has highest rate of willingness to pay compare to lower income Besides paying ticket cost, tourists might have to pay more money for biodiversity conservation, so that if ticket cost is increasing, the rate of willing to pay will be low In addition, biodiversity in Ba Vi National Park is important factors attract people come to National Park so biodiversity conservation is key indicators create willingness to pay of tourists for it Realizing importance of financial incentives for biodiversity, many integrated conservation and development projects have been implemented in buffer zone of protected areas, however the main regularly finance is not enough, so the willingness to pay is VND 22,140 so 37 that the total value of biodiversity conservation stated by visitors approximately VND 8,4 billion (US$365,635) If National Park apply this plan so they can have finance pay for biodiversity conservation activities regularly 5.2 Limitations - Cause the foreigners come to National Park account for 1.08 % (4,013 tourist‟s arrivals out of 379,838 tourist‟s arrivals in 2017) and short study time is not enough to gather information about international visitors to ensure representation of data - Study locations is just include locations which are cote 400m, 800m and 1100m so there are many places inside and in the foot mountain that I don‟t have enough time to survey 38 REFERENCES [1] Harrop, S R (2011) „Living in harmony with nature‟? 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This is 1st time 1-2 times 3-4 times Above times Purpose of this trip Travel Working Science research Other: The number in this trip:……… How long you spent time on this trip? day Would you please point out your interest in the values of the Park for ecotourism during this trip? 41 (Score from to 6) No Values of National Park Natural landscape Environmental quality Biodiversity values Architecture / Infrastructure Indigenous cultural values Tourism services in the NP Score Note How you rate your satisfaction with the ecotourism values at the NP?( Please √ in the selection box) No Values of National Park Satisfaction Very satisfied Natural landscape Environmental quality Biodiversity values Architecture / Infrastructure Indigenous cultural values Tourism services in the NP satisfied Ok Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied III Travel costs Please tell us how much you have spent and plan to spend on this trip?( It may include travel expense, entrance fee, parking, accommodation and shopping souvenirs):………… VND 42 What you think about the ticket cost at the park? a Very expensive b Expensive c Normal d Low e Very low IV Willingness to pay What you think about biodiversity conservation in the NP? Important Normal Unimportant Are you willing to pay for the purpose of preserving biodiversity values in the NP? Yes No (If yes go to question 3, If no go to question 4) In addition to the current entrance fees for your NP, how much would you be willing to pay for protecting the biodiversity of the NP? 20.000 VND 40.000 VND 80.000 VND 100.000 VND 60.000 VND Other:……… If you not willingness to pay, please explain why: I not care about biodiversity values and other values of the NP No need to have biodiversity conservation I spent too much money to come here I am afraid of money contributions will not be managed and used effectively Who influence the National park‟s values directly must pay Other reason Sincerely thank you for your cooperation! 43 Table 11 Custom table between dependent variables and independent variables Agree Yes Count No Column Count Valid N % Age Valid N % 0.0% 0.0% From 20-40 65 91.5% 21 72.4% From 40-60 7.0% 13.8% Above 60 1.4% 13.8% Male 30 42.3% 19 65.5% Female 41 57.7% 10 34.5% Educational Non-university 17 23.9% 17 58.6% level University 54 76.1% 12 41.4% Income FromVND 8.5% 13 44.8% 10 14.1% 13 44.8% 34 47.9% 10.3% 21 29.6% 0.0% Under 60 km 26 36.6% 15 51.7% From 60-120 km 21 29.6% 6.9% From 120-180 km 12 16.9% 27.6% Above 180 km 12 16.9% 13.8% Car 29 40.8% 12 41.4% Motorbike 42 59.2% 17 58.6% 0.0% 0.0% Gender under 20 Column 1,000,000 - 2,999,999 FromVND 3,000,000 - 5,999,999 FromVND 6,000,000 - 8,999,999 Above VND 9,000,000 Zone Transportation Bike 44 Frequency First time 36 50.7% 14 48.3% 1-2 times 22 31.0% 11 37.9% 3- times 11.3% 6.9% Above times 7.0% 6.9% Ticketcost Very expensive 2.8% 17.2% assessment Expensive 11 15.5% 15 51.7% Suitable 51 71.8% 31.0% Low 9.9% 0.0% Very low 0.0% 0.0% Bodiversity Important 58 81.7% 6.9% value Normal 12 16.9% 20.7% assessment Unimportant 1.4% 21 72.4% 45 ... surveyed factors and visitor‟s willingness to pay determination 25 3.4.2 The factors influencing to the determination of visitor‟s willingness to pay 26 3.5 Visitor‟s willingness to pay. .. less than 5% That improves factors influencing to the determination of visitor‟s willingness to pay Table Factors affect to determination of visitors willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation. .. developing this thesis is original from the reality of developing tourism rapidly in Ba Vi National Park That is great opportunity for me to my study ? ?Factors determining visitor‟s willingness to pay