Economic and Financial Benefits of Tourism in Major Protected Areas

Abstract

Tourism has emerged as an important economic activity in Australia. Australia's protected natural environment areas are amongst the nation's major tourist attractions. This article presents new estimates of the considerable financial value of tourism in five of Australia's World Heritage Areas (WHA.s ). An economic interpretation of the management objectives for protected areas has been developed to illustrate the nature of the problem of maximising the combined benefits of all uses, including conservation, over time. The role of tourism and the proper measures of economic benefits are defined within this model. The model also incorporates expenditure on management to prevent reductions in environmental quality. The financial value estimates for the five WHA.s are compared with management budgets and revenue collected from users and this leads to questions about the adequacy of funding for management and the potential for raising more revenue for management from users. It is argued that these questions can only be properly answered using the economic measures of surpluses and information on demand functions.

The Impact of Noosa National Park on Surrounding Property Values: An Application of the Hedonic Price Method

“…It has been found that National park managers, such as those of the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, are constantly searching for reliable and efficient methods toestimate the economic impact oftheir national parks. Their investigations have focused upon tourism recreation values due to the ease of data collection (Driml and Common 1995;Pearson et al 2000). The hedonic price method is a relatively straightforward approach to measuring the recreational and aesthetic values that the local residents place on having a park.…”

Uses of ecosystem services provided by MPAs: How much do they impact the local economy? A southern Europe perspective

“…Carlsen & Wood, 2004;Driml & Common, 1995;Kalter & Lord, 1968;KPMG, 2000;Leeworthy & Wiley, 2002;Lindberg & Denstadli, 2004;Stynes et al, 2002;Tremblay & Carson, 2007). Along with various monographic surveys, efforts have been made to develop generic methodologies (Stynes & Propst, 1993).…”

Tourism and World Heritage in the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserve, Australia

“…The economic significance of tourism in these forests needs to receive greater recognition. In the Wet Tropics of Queensland WHA further north, the changeover from logging to tourism yielded a seven-fold increase in revenue (Driml and Common 1995), and a similar result is likely if the central eastern rainforests made the same change (Ward 2000). The increase in tourism in State forests has received some political recognition to date, with the transfer of some State forest areas in northern NSW to the national parks estate.…”