Can a tourist levy protect national park resources and compensate for wildlife crop damage? An empirical investigation

The nature-based tourism sector has experienced significant growth and is often promoted as a mechanism for conservation. The geographical boundaries of national parks are often adjacent to farming land which leads to animal-farmer conflict over wildlife crop damage. This leads to unresolved conflict in many countries where there is little or no compensation to farmers. This study investigates how and in what circumstances foreign tourist contributions can be utilized to protect and foster national park-based resources and compensate for wildlife (mainly elephant) related crop damage. We employ a novel discrete choice experiment to explore nature conservation preferences from international visitors at Yala national park in Sri Lanka. We find that tourists are willing to pay significantly more for nature conservation, especially elephant conservation, in the form of an embarkation tax. The findings further show visitor preferences for the creation of wildlife corridors and the establishment of water bodies as alternative conservation measures.