Assessing the Economic Value of a Public Birdwatching Interpretative Service Using a Contingent Valuation Method

Although resource interpretative services are an essential conservation management tool that can add value to ecotourism experiences, there has been little empirical investigation on the 'true' economic value of such services. As such, this study's objective is to estimate the economic value of public interpretative services at a publicly supported Korean birdwatching festival, using a dichotomous choice contingent valuation method. Logit estimation results indicate that bid, age, income and birdwatching experience are important factors in explaining willingness-to-pay for interpretative services. The mean value of the publicly supported interpretative services is estimated to be 4,961 South Korean Won (approximately US$5) per person. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.