Tesis doctoral de Ivana Logar
This thesis takes elements and approaches from both environmental and ecological economics and applies them to the study of tourism and its development. It aims to improve our understanding of the complexity of interactions between tourism, resources and the environment, to advance methodological issues and to provide solutions to existing problems through policy recommendations. the main research questions that are addressed in the thesis are the following ones: ¿ which policy instruments for environmental management can improve the sustainability of tourism at a certain destination? ¿ how much are beach users willing to pay for preventing a loss of beaches due to erosion? ¿ what is the annual use value of a beach with particular characteristics? ¿ what is the difference in the welfare estimates between real and hypothetical markets for a public environmental good? ¿ does incorporating information about respondent uncertainty in contingent valuation models reduce hypothetical bias and improve estimate efficiency? ¿ what are the potential effects of peak oil on tourism industries and through it on the rest of the economy? this thesis is organized as follows. Chapter 2 first identifies negative impacts of tourism on the environment and develops indicators for measuring them. It then assesses available policy options for mitigating these impacts. More specifically, it evaluates eight instruments as possible policy measures for reaching a more sustainable tourism development, based on a case study in the coastal town of crikvenica in croatia. Economic, regulatory and institutional policy instruments identified as applicable in the tourism sector and subsequently analyzed include environmental taxes, user fees, financial incentives, eco-labels, quotas, zoning, tradable market permits and changes in property rights. This part of the analysis is based on in-depth interviews with relevant local stakeholders in combination with the literature review and the collection of secondary information. Next, the policy instruments are examined using the following three criteria: ¿ effectiveness of each policy instrument in mitigating negative tourism repercussions in the town of crikvenica; ¿ social acceptability of the instruments among relevant stakeholders; ¿ technical and financial feasibility of their implementation in this town. this stage involved a participatory assessment of the policy instruments, targeted at the same stakeholders who were previously interviewed. chapter 3 focuses on one specific policy instrument, namely a user fee. It examines the willingness to pay (wtp) of beach visitors for preventing beach loss due to erosion in the form of daily beach entrance fee at two beaches in crikvenica. Extrapolating these estimates enables determining the economic values of the two beaches. For this purpose, 745 surveys were conducted in the summer of 2008. the novelty of this analysis is that it resembles a field experiment as it compares wtp estimates for a real (existing) and a hypothetical (non-existing) market. It does so by estimating wtp for a beach where a beach entrance fee already exists and for the nearest free beach. There is a vast amount of literature that compares real and hypothetical payments, usually with the aim of measuring hypothetical bias in the cvm. Nevertheless, this is the first study that does so in the beach valuation context as far as the author is aware. Besides, most of the existing studies do not focus on environmental or public goods. this chapter further identifies both stated and revealed preferences by using the cvm and the tcm. In addition, two different approaches of the tcm are tested and compared. One applies the total travel costs of a trip, while the other one uses daily travel costs. In the total travel cost approach the wtp estimates are corrected for variations in the travel group size, length of stay and multiple-destination trips once the wtp per trip is derived. The second approach uses daily travel costs per adult, which is calculated with the formula which is developed for this purpose and which allows allocating part of the total travel costs that corresponds to the beach visit exclusively. chapter 4 examines how respondent uncertainty affects welfare estimates for the two beaches. Respondent certainty levels are elicited using a follow-up five-category polychotomous choice question. The effect of respondent uncertainty on welfare estimates is examined by comparing: (1) wtp estimates for the two beaches obtained with the standard cvm model (the model in which preference certainty is assumed) with estimates from the cvm models adjusted for respondent uncertainty, and (2) the results from stated preferences (cvm) with those from revealed preferences (tcm). Incorporating information about respondent uncertainty is claimed by some authors to reduce hypothetical bias. Therefore, the advantage of using the two methods in this context is that tcm does not produce a hypothetical bias, allowing testing whether wtp estimates from cvm models adjusted for uncertainty approximate estimates obtained from tcm more than those from the standard cvm model. two calibration approaches of respondent uncertainty are applied and compared. The first approach adjusts the yes/no responses for uncertainty by recoding uncertain «yes» responses into «no» responses, while the second one treats uncertain responses as missing. This study also examines the effect of the real market experience for an environmental good or service on respondent uncertainty. It does so by comparing the degrees of uncertainty expressed by respondents at an existing and a hypothetical beach market. Finally, it identifies factors which explain market experience and respondent uncertainty. chapter 5 explores the effects of a non-renewable natural resource on tourism industries. More specifically, it explores the potential effects of peak oil on tourism industries in spain and indirectly on the rest of its economy by applying input-output (i/o) analysis. This study considers several scenarios of the increases in the price of oil (us$115, us$150 and us$200 per barrel) and of price increases of related fossil fuels as well as their inflationary effects. In total, 38 scenarios are constructed. These scenarios provide the context for the i/o analysis which uses i/o tables for spain for 2005 extended with tourism satellite accounts. The analysis comprises three steps: (1) estimating the price change of tourism services in spain due to an increase in the price of oil, by applying an i/o price model; (2) assessing the effects of these price changes on the demand for spanish tourism services; and (3) estimating the economy-wide effects of a change in the demand for spanish tourism services using an i/o demand model. the closing chapter 6 provides concluding remarks and suggestions for further research.
Datos académicos de la tesis doctoral «Tourism, resources and environment: case studies in croatia and spain«
- Título de la tesis: Tourism, resources and environment: case studies in croatia and spain
- Autor: Ivana Logar
- Universidad: Autónoma de barcelona
- Fecha de lectura de la tesis: 25/11/2011
Dirección y tribunal
- Director de la tesis
- Jeroen Van Den Bergh
- Tribunal
- Presidente del tribunal: jordi Roca jusmet
- roy Brouwer (vocal)
- (vocal)
- (vocal)