Economic valuation of coral reef ecosystem for marine tourismin Karimunjawa National Park

Abstract

Karimunjawa Islands has been designated as Marine National Park since the enactment of Kepdirjen PHKA No. SK. 28 / IV-SET / 2012. Marine tourism utilization zones have 2.45% of the total area in Karimunjawa National Park which has great potential to be developed. One of the resources used in tourism utilization zones is coral reefs. The value of economic valuation of coral reefs is considered necessary as an approach to demonstrate the benefits of managing coral reef ecosystems in policy making and providing useful information for the development of marine tourism. Marine tourism activities in Karimunjawa National Park are snorkelling and diving. The consumer surplus is predicted to be used as input for the management of coral reef resources for marine tourism activities in Karimunjawa National Park. The method used is the Travel Cost Method with structured interviews using questionnaires with 45 respondents. Correlation and regression analysis shows that the demand for marine tourism is influenced by travel costs, age, education, income, gender, travel length and distance. The economic value of snorkelling tours is 94 549 044 IDR / person / year and diving tourism is about 29 254 711 IDR / person / year. Total economic value of coral reefs amounting to 474 535 386 835 IDR / year. Based on this, the marine tourism of snorkelling and diving Karimunjawa National Park has potential to be developed economically through the determination of entrance costs or other management step such as a promotion.