Valuing access to protected areas in Nepal: The case of Chitwan National Park

Abstract

Highlights We estimated visitors willingness-to-pay (WTP) entrance fee at Nepal's Chitwan National Park. We considered three groups of visitors: non-South Asian foreigners, South Asian foreigners, and domestic. Mean WTPs are substantially higher (> 159%) than the current entry fees. WTP is positively affected by visit experience and negatively by candidate entry fees. At revenue maximising entry fees, park revenue would increase by more than 80%. Increased entry fees provide additional revenue for park management and local development. AbstractThis paper investigates the international and domestic visitors' willingness to pay (WTP) an entry fee at Chitwan National Park (CNP) in Nepal, the factors affecting their WTP, and the trade-offs among entry fees, visitation demand and park revenue. Based on the contingent valuation surveys of 222 non-South Asian, 48 South Asian, and 40 domestic visitors, the logit regression results suggest that the visitors have a substantially higher WTP than the current entry fees.Depending on visitor categories, the estimated mean WTP per visitor per day was at least 2.5 times higher than the existing entry fee. The WTP is positively affected by the visitor's CNP experience. The current fees capture only about 21% of consumer surplus derived from CNP access. Doubling the current entry fees would modestly decrease the number of CNP visitors (61%).

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