Tourists’ perceptions and willingness to pay for the control of Opuntia stricta invasion in protected areas: A case study from South Africa

Koedoe - African Protected Area Conservation and Science

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Tourists’ perceptions and willingness to pay for the control of Opuntia stricta invasion in protected areas: A case study from South Africa
 
Creator Nikodinoska, Natasha Foxcroft, Llewellyn C. Rouget, Mathieu Paletto, Alessandro Notaro, Sandra
 
Subject Ecological Economics, Ecology Invasive alien plants; landscape and recreational values; Opuntia stricta; perceptions; Pilanesberg National Park; South Africa; tourists
Description Invasive alien plants have a long history of establishment in the national parks of South Africa.In particular, Opuntia stricta (sour prickly pear) has invaded several protected areas in thecountry, threatening the biodiversity conservation mandate of these conservation areas. Thisarticle focuses on the economic estimation of O. stricta’s negative impacts in protected areas byusing Contingent Valuation surveys conducted amongst a sample of tourists in the PilanesbergNational Park (North West Parks and Tourism Board, South Africa). Tourists’ familiarity andawareness of selected invasive alien plants and their willingness to pay for the implementationof a control programme for O. stricta were assessed. The results show that many tourists arefamiliar with invasive alien plants and their (positive and negative) impacts and, in particular,perceived the presence of O. stricta to be negative, due to the impacts on aesthetics and recreation.Socio-demographic characteristics, as well as individual attitudes and biocentric beliefs, have aninfluence on the willingness to contribute financially to a control programme for O. stricta. Theindividual willingness to pay assessment found that the majority of respondents (78%) werewilling to pay a higher entrance fee (an additional R57.30 or $7.00 per day) for a hypotheticalprogramme to control the invasion of O. stricta in the Pilanesberg National Park.Conservation implications: The willingness of tourists to pay for O. stricta managementprovides useful insights in the decision-making process of park management. The resultsare encouraging, since, in general, tourists are aware of the problem and are in support ofproviding additional economic input for preventing future alien plant invasions.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor —
Date 2014-07-02
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/octet-stream text/xml application/pdf application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/koedoe.v56i1.1214
 
Source Koedoe; Vol 56, No 1 (2014); 8 pages 2071-0771 0075-6458
 
Language eng
 
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Coverage Africa — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2014 Natasha Nikodinoska, Llewellyn C. Foxcroft, Mathieu Rouget, Alessandro Paletto, Sandra Notaro https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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