Application of the Contingent Valuation Method to Abidjan’s Banco National Park

Abstract

Banco National Park, a protected area, is the subject of incessant attacks through anthropogenic actions. This study aims to determine the willingness to pay (WTP) of visitors to safeguard the Banco national park. To achieve this, we used the contingent valuation method. The estimation of the simple tobit econometric model revealed the factors that significantly influence WTP. Thus, preferentially for young people, adults and seniors are willing to provide more resources to contribute to the protection of the Banco park. Concerning marital status, the results reveal that compared to singles, relevant visitors of other marital statuses other than married express low WTP. Income positively increases the WTP expressed by visitors. The comparative study of the average WTP of visitors according to origins and income reveals that visitors from Côte d'Ivoire have an average income of 876 772 FCFA and those from other developing countries with an average income of 898 207 FCFA demonstrate non-significantly different average WTP. The same goes for visitors from Europe and other developed countries in North America and Japan with average incomes of 1 824 479 FCFA and 2 490 000 FCFA respectively. On the other hand, there is a significant difference between the means of visitors from developing countries including Côte d'Ivoire and those from developed countries. In view of these results, we recommend that entrance fees to the park be discriminated based on the origins of visitors. Thus, those from developing countries must pay lower park entrance fees than those from developed countries.