Potential of establishing a tourism entrance fee for the conservation management of St. Martin's Island, Bangladesh
St. Martin's Island was declared an ecologically critical area of Bangladesh in 1999, but this has had limited effect on the conservation of the island's natural coral resources, on which a thriving tourism industry and the local inhabitants depend. The introduction of a tourism entrance f...
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AIMS Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Green Finance |
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| Online Access: | https://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/GF.2025001 |
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| author | Seema Rani Michael Bennett Md. Kawser Ahmed Xiongzhi Xue Keliang Chen Mohammad Shamsul Alam Antaya March Pierre Failler |
| author_facet | Seema Rani Michael Bennett Md. Kawser Ahmed Xiongzhi Xue Keliang Chen Mohammad Shamsul Alam Antaya March Pierre Failler |
| author_sort | Seema Rani |
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| description | St. Martin's Island was declared an ecologically critical area of Bangladesh in 1999, but this has had limited effect on the conservation of the island's natural coral resources, on which a thriving tourism industry and the local inhabitants depend. The introduction of a tourism entrance fee can benefit conservation management on the island, but research on the amount that tourists are willing to pay is absent. The objective of this paper is to determine an appropriate entrance fee amount tourists would be willing to pay (WTP) for visiting St. Martin's Island using contingent valuation method questionnaire surveys and interviews of tourists on the island (n = 327) and the factors that influence their decision. Significance testing and regression analysis were used to assess survey data. A large majority of respondents suggested that they would be willing to pay between 0.78 and 7.8 USD; however, 24.5% said that they would pay nothing and indicated that such reluctance to pay was based on a belief that the responsibility should not fall on themselves as individuals, rather than a lack of financial capacity. Evidence suggests that even greater tourism entrance fees would still be accepted and amenable to tourists. If a fee of 4.29 USD was introduced, between 350,000 and 3.51 million USD, or 1.93 million USD, could be generated annually. The level of education, income, and a general concern for the environment significantly influenced WTP amounts. This study is aimed at assisting policy decision-makers and conservation managers of St. Martin's Island; required policy actions are briefly discussed. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2643-1092 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | AIMS Press |
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| series | Green Finance |
| spelling | doaj-art-d76f660ae8664a34b78a84052a20ccfc2025-08-20T01:57:05ZengAIMS PressGreen Finance2643-10922025-01-017112310.3934/GF.2025001Potential of establishing a tourism entrance fee for the conservation management of St. Martin's Island, BangladeshSeema Rani0Michael Bennett1Md. Kawser Ahmed2Xiongzhi Xue3Keliang Chen4Mohammad Shamsul Alam5Antaya March6Pierre Failler7Coastal and Ocean Management Institute (COMI), Xiamen University, Xiamen, ChinaCentre for Blue Governance, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, P01 3DE, United KingdomInternational Centre for Ocean Governance (ICOG), Faculty of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, BangladeshCoastal and Ocean Management Institute (COMI), Xiamen University, Xiamen, ChinaThird Institute of Oceanography (TIO), Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen University, Xiamen, ChinaInstitute of Statistical Research and Training (ISRT), University of Dhaka, Dhaka-1000, BangladeshCentre for Blue Governance, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, P01 3DE, United KingdomCentre for Blue Governance, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, P01 3DE, United KingdomSt. Martin's Island was declared an ecologically critical area of Bangladesh in 1999, but this has had limited effect on the conservation of the island's natural coral resources, on which a thriving tourism industry and the local inhabitants depend. The introduction of a tourism entrance fee can benefit conservation management on the island, but research on the amount that tourists are willing to pay is absent. The objective of this paper is to determine an appropriate entrance fee amount tourists would be willing to pay (WTP) for visiting St. Martin's Island using contingent valuation method questionnaire surveys and interviews of tourists on the island (n = 327) and the factors that influence their decision. Significance testing and regression analysis were used to assess survey data. A large majority of respondents suggested that they would be willing to pay between 0.78 and 7.8 USD; however, 24.5% said that they would pay nothing and indicated that such reluctance to pay was based on a belief that the responsibility should not fall on themselves as individuals, rather than a lack of financial capacity. Evidence suggests that even greater tourism entrance fees would still be accepted and amenable to tourists. If a fee of 4.29 USD was introduced, between 350,000 and 3.51 million USD, or 1.93 million USD, could be generated annually. The level of education, income, and a general concern for the environment significantly influenced WTP amounts. This study is aimed at assisting policy decision-makers and conservation managers of St. Martin's Island; required policy actions are briefly discussed.https://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/GF.2025001bay of bengal (bob)conservation financecoral and associated resourcesecologically critical areaswilling to pay (wtp) |
| spellingShingle | Seema Rani Michael Bennett Md. Kawser Ahmed Xiongzhi Xue Keliang Chen Mohammad Shamsul Alam Antaya March Pierre Failler Potential of establishing a tourism entrance fee for the conservation management of St. Martin's Island, Bangladesh Green Finance bay of bengal (bob) conservation finance coral and associated resources ecologically critical areas willing to pay (wtp) |
| title | Potential of establishing a tourism entrance fee for the conservation management of St. Martin's Island, Bangladesh |
| title_full | Potential of establishing a tourism entrance fee for the conservation management of St. Martin's Island, Bangladesh |
| title_fullStr | Potential of establishing a tourism entrance fee for the conservation management of St. Martin's Island, Bangladesh |
| title_full_unstemmed | Potential of establishing a tourism entrance fee for the conservation management of St. Martin's Island, Bangladesh |
| title_short | Potential of establishing a tourism entrance fee for the conservation management of St. Martin's Island, Bangladesh |
| title_sort | potential of establishing a tourism entrance fee for the conservation management of st martin s island bangladesh |
| topic | bay of bengal (bob) conservation finance coral and associated resources ecologically critical areas willing to pay (wtp) |
| url | https://www.aimspress.com/article/doi/10.3934/GF.2025001 |
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