Economic spillover from Natural Protected Areas to conventional tourist destinations

Abstract

This paper examines the role of Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) as a source of economic spillovers for mass tourism destinations in Mexico. An econometric model was used to explain the number of booked rooms in tourism destinations as a function of proximity to NPAs, controlling for destination characteristics. A conservative estimate suggests that some rooms booked by foreign visitors can be explained by proximity to NPAs. Our results open public policy options, such as a compensating mechanism from conventional tourism to fund NPAs and show that they would be economically efficient and contribute to sustainability.