Securing benefits for local communities from international visitors to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Johane Dikgang, Edwin Muchapondwa and Jesper Stage
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Johane Dikgang: University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Edwin Muchapondwa: University of Cape Town, South Africa; Luleå University of Technology, Sweden

Tourism Economics, 2017, vol. 23, issue 8, 1553-1567

Abstract: This article estimates the visitation demand function for Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP) in order to determine the scope for raising fees charged to international tourists in order to fund revenue-sharing schemes for local communities. International and Southern African Development Community tourists account for approximately 25% and 2% of the total number of visitors to South African national parks, with domestic visitors making up the remaining portion. Although small, the South African international tourism market is mature and accounts for a disproportionately large share (around 42%) of net revenue. To estimate visitation demand at the KTP and three other national parks, random effects Tobit Model was used. Using the estimated elasticities, the revenue-maximizing daily conservation fee was computed to be R1 131.94 (US$144.20) for KTP, which can be compared with the R180 (US$22.93) currently charged. Furthermore, the study also demonstrated that there is a possibility of raising fees at the other three parks. Sharing conservation revenue with communities surrounding parks could demonstrate the link between ecotourism and local communities’ economic development and promote a positive view of land restitution involving national parks.

Keywords: benefit-sharing; conservation fee; demand; international visitors; land claim; national park (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:toueco:v:23:y:2017:i:8:p:1553-1567

DOI: 10.1177/1354816617707593

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