Introduction

Natural resource systems such as lakes, rivers, streams, estuaries, forests and parks are used extensively by people for various kinds of recreational activities. From an economic perspective, the services provided by natural resources have two important features. The first is that the economic value of these services depends upon the characteristics of the natural resource system. Knowledge of the values of these services may be important for a variety of resource management decisions. The second important feature is that access to the resource for recreation is typically not allocated through the markets. Rather, access is typically open to all visitors at a zero price or a nominal entrance fee that bears no relationship to either recreational value to the visitor or the cost of resource conservation. And there is no or little variation in these access prices over time or across sites to provide data for estimating the demand for these sites for recreation.

In developing countries, governments are often strapped for resources to protect and conserve the natural resources. In such situations, ecotourism can be an important source of income for ensuring both natural resource conservation and economic growth. A growing body of literature stresses the role eco-tourism can play in managing national parks and protected areas. In developing countries, park entry fees are often low, or sometimes non-existent. Further, whatever tourism revenues that exist are frequently merged with other general sources and not earmarked for park maintenance.