Estimating Recreational Economic Value of Langtang National Park, Nepal
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17102/bjnrd.v3i1.15Keywords:
Contingent valuation, economic value, entry fee, Langtang National Park, recreational ecosystem services, willingness to payAbstract
Protected areas are the backbones of biodiversity conservation and effective tools to achieving conservation goals. Besides conservation, they are also the destination of nature based tourism as seen in national parks, among others. Nepal has currently 23.23% of its area designated as protected areas including 10 national parks. In order to evaluate the willingness to pay (WTP) for park entry fee and estimate economic value of the park tourism/recreation in Langtang National Park, contingent valuation study was conducted in the autumn of 2014. Findings suggest that the mean WTP for the park entry fee is USD 53.57 and median WTP is USD 50 which is higher than the current entry fee of USD 30. Further, entry fee of USD 50 yield the maximum revenue of USD 375,400 to the park provided that the hypothesized entry fee is realized and prospective number of visitors are willing to pay for this amount. Total economic value (gross regional economic value) due to the park is estimated to be USD 6,603,898.
