The potential for expansion of whale shark (Rhincodon typus) tourism in St. Helena: stakeholder engagement and willingness to pay

IF 2.4 Q2 HOSPITALITY, LEISURE, SPORT & TOURISM

Journal of Ecotourism Pub Date : 2021-09-12 DOI:10.1080/14724049.2021.1971684

J. Drew, Kenickie Andrews, Ness Smith

引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT Whale shark (Rhincodon typus) tourism is increasingly popular wherever the species occur, including a fledgling industry on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena. We interviewed 154 people to elicit the social and economic value of whale shark tourism on the island. Additionally, 77 survey participants were queried about their willingness to pay, 32% of those responding indicated that they would be willing to pay at least £10 more, a 20% increase from existing charges. Tourists also supported the concept that the local population should pay less for whale shark snorkel tours. Perceptions among visitors and locals were that the marine environment was well managed on St. Helena and that protecting it was important. Results from this study could help inform St. Helena Government policy and support MWT operators on the island to further develop a sustainable and equitable whale shark tourism industry.

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圣赫勒拿岛鲸鲨(Rhincodon typus)旅游扩展的潜力:利益相关者的参与和支付意愿

鲸鲨(Rhincodon typus)旅游越来越受欢迎，无论该物种出现在哪里，包括南大西洋圣赫勒拿岛的新兴产业。我们采访了154人，以引出岛上鲸鲨旅游的社会和经济价值。此外，77名调查参与者被问及他们的支付意愿，32%的受访者表示他们愿意至少多支付10英镑，比现有费用增加20%。游客们还支持当地居民应该为鲸鲨潜水游支付更少的费用。游客和当地人的看法是，圣赫勒拿岛的海洋环境管理良好，保护海洋环境很重要。这项研究的结果可以帮助圣赫勒拿岛政府制定政策，并支持岛上的MWT运营商进一步发展可持续和公平的鲸鲨旅游业。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Ecotourism Social Sciences-Geography, Planning and Development

CiteScore

6.40

自引率

12.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Ecotourism seeks to advance the field by examining the social, economic, and ecological aspects of ecotourism at a number of scales, and including regions from around the world. Journal of Ecotourism welcomes conceptual, theoretical, and empirical research, particularly where it contributes to the dissemination of new ideas and models of ecotourism planning, development, management, and good practice. While the focus of the journal rests on a type of tourism based principally on natural history - along with other associated features of the man-land nexus - it will consider papers which investigate ecotourism as part of a broader nature based tourism, as well as those works which compare or contrast ecotourism/ists with other forms of tourism/ists.