Testing Differences in Estimation of River Recreation Benefits for International and Domestic Tourists as a Function of Single- Versus Multiple-Destination Day Trips

Abstract

Past comparisons of willingness-to-pay (WTP) tended to focus on differences between international tourists and domestic tourists. However, this simple distinction does not account for whether visitors from each of the two groups are on multiple-destination trips or not. Our study of visitors to Puerto Rico's rainforest found that whether tourists were on multiple-destination trips or not was an equally important determinant of WTP. Specifically, while WTP of international tourists on multiple-destination trips was the highest at nearly $200 per trip, the second highest was domestic tourists on multiple-destination trips at $163 per trip. International tourists on single-destination trips had a value of $134, while domestic tourists on single-destination trips was the lowest at $110. Prior studies finding that international tourists had higher WTP may, in part, be due to the fact that the majority of domestic tourists take single-destination trips.