The economic value of natural protected areas in Ecuador: A case of Villamil Beach National Recreation Area

With 2,472 hectares, Villamil Beach National Recreation Area (VBNRA) is the main beach in the province of Guayas, Ecuador. It is protected by the Ministry of Environment and its recreational services are offered on the seashore, attracting large numbers of tourists throughout the year. It is essential to understand characteristics of resident and tourist populations, to develop public policies which contribute to coastal management of the VBNRA. Economic valuation has been considered as an instrument that evidences the different uses of the natural resources as beaches. Hence, this study estimates the economic value of the VBNRA by using the Individual Travel Cost Method. This method can be used when two conditions are met. First, there must be a high frequency visitor's rate and second, visitors must be heterogeneous. VBNRA meets both conditions. Our results show that for the entire sample (tourists and residents); the per-person-per-visit value of the beach is estimated to be USD 16.95. The semi-elasticity analysis applied in this paper concludes that tourists are less sensitive to marginal changes in the travel costs.