This paper investigates how the introduction of user fees and defensive expenditures changes the complex dynamics of a discrete-time model, which represents the interaction between visitors and environmental quality in an open-access protected-area (OAPA). To investigate this issue more deeply, we begin by studying in great detail the OAPA model, and then we introduce the user fee (<svg style="vertical-align:-2.29482pt;width:8.8500004px;" id="M1" height="13.425" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 8.8500004 13.425" width="8.8500004" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <g transform="matrix(1.25,0,0,-1.25,0,13.425)"> <g transform="translate(72,-61.26)"> <text transform="matrix(1,0,0,-1,-71.95,63.6)"> <tspan style="font-size: 12.50px; " x="0" y="0">𝛽</tspan> </text> </g> </g> </svg>) and the defensive expenditures (<svg style="vertical-align:-2.29482pt;width:16.6875px;" id="M2" height="13.425" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16.6875 13.425" width="16.6875" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <g transform="matrix(1.25,0,0,-1.25,0,13.425)"> <g transform="translate(72,-61.26)"> <text transform="matrix(1,0,0,-1,-71.95,63.6)"> <tspan style="font-size: 12.50px; " x="0" y="0">𝜌</tspan> <tspan style="font-size: 12.50px; " x="6.2765059" y="0">𝛽</tspan> </text> </g> </g> </svg>) specifically directed towards at the protection of the environmental resource. We observed that some values of <svg style="vertical-align:-2.29482pt;width:8.8500004px;" id="M3" height="13.425" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 8.8500004 13.425" width="8.8500004" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"> <g transform="matrix(1.25,0,0,-1.25,0,13.425)"> <g transform="translate(72,-61.26)"> <text transform="matrix(1,0,0,-1,-71.95,63.6)"> <tspan style="font-size: 12.50px; " x="0" y="0">𝛽</tspan> </text> </g> </g> </svg> can generate a chaotic regime from a stable dynamic of the OAPA model. Finally, to eliminate the chaotic regime, we design a controller by OGY method, assuming the user fee as a controller parameter.