Determinantion of visitors’ willingness to pay to enter Karagol Natural Park of Ankara, Turkey

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to assess visitors’ attitudes, if visitors would be willing to pay to enter Lake Karagol, and what factors affect their decision to pay. The contingent valuation method was used to estimate the economic value of the lake by assessing willingness to pay (WTP). Double dichotomous questions were used in the survey. Respondents were first asked whether or not they would be willing to pay the starting bid. They could either answer in the affirmative (that is, accepted bid) or in the negative (that is, reject the starting bid). The average WTP for an entrance fee was found to be about USD 0.22 for all observations when zero bids were included, and about USD 4.40 when zero bids were excluded. Result of the probit model showed that respondents with a higher income, respondents who were young, and the working status of the respondents had significant impacts on the probability of the WTP.

Are Tourists Willing to Pay for a Marine Litter-Free Coastal Attraction to Achieve Tourism Sustainability? Case Study of Libong Island, Thailand

“…It is called "contingent" valuation because respondents state their willingness to pay contingent on a specific scenario and environmental service described. It determines WTP quite accurately when the scenario is similar to the familiar situation of the market [30], as it reduces the cognitive burden of respondents, and simulates the behavior of people in a normal market.…”

“…Previous research estimates the amount of a tourists' WTP for entrance fees to natural attractions, national parks, and protected areas. For example, tourists are willing to pay to access Lake Karagol, Turkey, at approximately USD 4.40 per person [30], similar to that of Icelandic tourists willing to pay entrance fees to the natural attractions Gullfoss waterfall and Skaftafell national park of USD 4.63 and USD 7.06 per person, respectively [19]. In addition, tourists in China are required to pay a higher entrance fee of USD 7.54 per person in the Dalai Lake protected area, in order to provide funding for biodiversity conservation and environmental protection [22].…”

“…This variance is usually due to differences in individuals' socioeconomic characteristics such as age, gender, income, and education. Some studies [19,23,30,32] indicate that younger people, those with a higher income, and those with a higher education are more willing to pay. On the other hand, another study [18] found that respondents of an older age were positively associated with the WTP response.…”

Willingness to Pay for Kubah National Park: Evidence from the Contingent Valuation Method

“…Next, work and income were found to be significant at 5% level and showed a positive sign as expected. This shows that respondent who is employed and has higher income is willing to pay to enter the national park despites of the price increment and to support this statement, a study conducted by Serefoglu (2018) found out that those who are working and has high income will have positive effects on paying higher entrance fee to support conservation and enjoying the park. Besides that, Factor 1 (NP's roles) was statistically significant, indicating that the respondents who were aware with the roles and functions of Kubah National Park are willing to pay for higher prices compared to respondents who responded less on Factor 2 (importance of NP's), Factor 3 (ecological integrity) and Factor 4 (believe).…”

Οικονομική Αποτίμηση Αστικών Και Περιβαλλοντικών Πάρκων Στην Ελλάδα

“…Μάλιστα, τα άτομα που δηλώνουν ότι εργάζονται και είναι δάσκαλοι επίσης εμφανίζουν μεγαλύτερες πιθανότητες αποδοχής για πληρωμή (Abedini et al, 2016), ενώ άλλη έρευνα έδειξε ότι οι συνταξιούχοι και οι εργαζόμενοι είναι λιγότερο πρόθυμοι να πληρώσουν σε σύγκριση με όσους δήλωσαν διαφορετική από αυτές, επαγγελματική ιδιότητα (Sharahi et al, 2015). Ακόμη μία έρευνα έδειξε την επίδραση που ασκεί το επάγγελμα στην απόφαση για πληρωμή, αφού οι συνεντευξιαζόμενοι που δήλωσαν ότι εργάζονται στο δημόσιο τομέα είναι περισσότερο πιθανό να δεχτούν να πληρώσουν (Serefoglu, 2018 Silva et al, 2017). Τα αποτελέσματα, ωστόσο, άλλων ερευνών έδειξαν ότι όσο μεγαλύτερο είναι το ύψος των εξόδων για την μετάβαση στα πάρκα, τόσο μικρότερη η πιθανότητα να δεχτεί κάποιος να πληρώσει για επίσκεψη (Khan et al, 2014;Martin-Lopez et al, 2007).…”