Valuing tourists’ willingness to pay for conserving the non-use values of marine tourism resources: a comparison of three archipelagic tourism destinations in China

Abstract

The conservation of marine tourism resources based on the public’s preference for non-use values is important to the sustainable development of marine tourism. The objectives of this article are to explore the willingness to pay (WTP) for the non-use values of marine tourism resources and how such WTP differs among types of marine tourism resources in China. A contingent valuation study was undertaken at three archipelagic tourism destinations: the Miaodao Archipelago, with beaches and maritime geological heritage (Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea areas); the Zhoushan Archipelago, with beaches and maritime culture (East China Sea area) and Sanya and nearby islands, with beaches and coral reefs (South China Sea area). Tourists’ WTP varies by resource type, among which the WTP for the above six subsamples ranged from ¥192.93 to ¥373.16, confirming the existence of the non-use values of marine tourism resources in China. These results not only provide references for determining priorities for protecting marine tourism resources but also suggest that policymakers can focus on the more attractive resources to raise conservation funds, thus promoting the realization of general conservation objectives. Furthermore, this article offers novel insights into the validity and reliability test of contingent valuation method (CVM) studies.