Travel to environmental resources: determining the economic value of tourism use of the environmental resources in Itaúnas, Conceição da Barra/ES

Abstract

The environmental costs and benefits of tourism should not be absorbed by the market. The uncontrolled consumption of these resources has led, in many cases, not only to a decrease in quality for tourism use but also to harmful modifications to the destinations and their populations, as has been seen in Itaúnas, Conceição da Barra/ES, Brazil. In this context, this research was based on a questioning of the nature of the relationship between the demand for tourism, and the socioeconomic characteristics of the tourists, in order to understand the economic value of tourism use of the environmental resources in the destination, using an individual Travel Cost Method (TCM) approach. The economic value of the tourist use of the environmental resources in the destination was estimated at R$ 1,149,137.56 per year, with a total of 39,785 trips per year. The individual benefits were estimated at R$ 5.33 for each Day of travel. Faced with the pressure for growth and the need for environmental conservation, it recommends the use of economic instruments to control the consumption of local environmental resources. Key words: Environmental Economics; Tourism destinations; Environmental resources.