Mountains of trouble: Accounting for environmental costs of land use change from tourism development
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Date
2024
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elservier
Abstract
Land use change is the main driver of nature and biodiversity loss worldwide, and tourism developments
contribute to this loss. The combination of Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and Stated Preference (SP) methods can
help inform tourism management by translating the environmental and economic impacts of developments into
welfare impacts in monetary terms. We perform a CBA at both the local and regional levels for small (S), medium
(M), and large (L) developments in a certified sustainable mountain destination in Norway. The L-development is
the preferred tourism management locally as local economic benefits outweigh the local environmental costs.
However, when we also include the economic and environmental impacts outside of the destination, we find the
S-development to provide higher total welfare at the regional level. This shows that local governments’ dual role
as regulators and promoters of tourism is problematic since sustainable management should also account for the
nonmarket environmental welfare impacts outside of the destination
Description
Tourism Management 102 (2024) 104870
Keywords
Tourism development,Ecosystem services,Cost-benefit analysis,Stated preference,Willingness to pay