Abstract
Using choice experiment, the objective of this study is to estimate international tourists’ preferences and willingness to pay for ecofriendly services which related to river and natural environment conservation of hotel industry in Vangvieng, a popular tourist town in Lao PDR. We used the mixed logit to take into account of preference heterogeneity by allowing coefficients to be normally distributed and assumed to vary among individuals. The result shows that all ecofriendly practices offered in this study are significantly preferred by tourists. Income, age, and education did not have significant effect on the probability of choosing ecologically friendly practices of hotel and attributes to support the ecotourism of the area; however, this study provides important information that female tourists are more receptive to a new alternative. These findings do not only support the provision of good and green services in Vangvieng Town, but will also be useful for policy maker to enhance the sustainability of ecotourism in Laos.
Highlights
Rivers play a key role in ecosystems and society, and they provide a range of ecosystem functions such as shelter and food source for an array of biological species, aid in flood management and ecological refuge development [1]
The objective of this study is to find out which of these ecofriendly services are preferred by international tourists
The main purpose of this study is to find out an appropriate way to encourage private sector, especially hotel industry in this Vangvieng Town, to participate in sustainable natural environment conservation program by providing their guests with ecofriendly services that related to river conservation within their hotel while gaining more benefits
Summary
Rivers play a key role in ecosystems and society, and they provide a range of ecosystem functions such as shelter and food source for an array of biological species, aid in flood management and ecological refuge development [1]. In 2013 it was reported that among 1916 tourist attractions nationwide, 1093 places were accounted as natural sites and tourism became the second main source of export income after mining sector [4]. While only 4468 tourist arrivals were reported in 1997, the number had increased continuously and reached 167,444 visitors in 2013, given that 70% of them were from foreign countries [6]. This result inevitably pushed tourist accommodation to increase from only hotel and 52 guesthouses in 2006 to 13 hotels and 120 guesthouses, bungalows and resorts in 2013 and it was reported that more than 60% of district income was from tourism [6]
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