The effect of attitudinal and sociological factors on tourists' willingness to pay for Helen Protected Forest in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran

Background and objectives: To express the role and importance of the environment and convert it to monetary values, these resources need to be valued using appropriate methods. Environmental attitude is a crucial factor in improving the description and prediction of economic models. The new environmental paradigm (NEP) is the most widely used measure of environmental attitude among the variables used in contingent valuation and willingness to pay. This study aims to estimate the recreational value and willingness to pay of tourists, considering the new environmental paradigm in the Helen Protected Forest, located in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran, using the contingent valuation method.
Methodology: This study examines the visitor population of the Helen Protected Forest. To estimate the sample size, a pre-questionnaire was designed and completed by the tourists to determine the variance of the trait under investigation. The number of 230 samples was determined using Cochran’s formula and the information obtained from the pre-questionnaire. The contingent valuation method was applied to assess the willingness of forest tourists to pay, using the Double-bounded Dichotomous Choice questionnaire. In this method, the estimated value is determined based on the conditions of a hypothetical market. Additionally, to investigate environmental attitude, the new environmental paradigm questionnaire was used. This questionnaire contains 15 items in the form of a Likert scale. The required statistics and information were collected through random sampling on different days of the week in different seasons of 2022 with face-to-face interviews of visitors from the mentioned area. In the contingent valuation method, the logit regression model was used to investigate the effect of explanatory variables on visitors’ willingness to pay, and the parameters of this model were estimated based on the maximum likelihood method. Furthermore, using the truncated average willingness to pay, the visitors’ willingness to pay was calculated. For data analysis and estimation of the logit regression economic model, as well as for statistical analysis, the software packages Shazam and Excel were employed.
Results: The results showed that 83.04% of visitors are willing to pay for recreational use of the Helen Protected Forest. The logit model indicated that the variables of the proposed amount and the number of annual visits have negative effects, while the variable of the new environmental paradigm has a positive and significant effect on people’s willingness to pay. The willingness of men and native people of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province to pay was significantly higher than that of women and non-native people. The variables of age, education, and income have positive and significant effects on people’s willingness to pay. The environmental statement (Ethics and Consequentialist) showed that the average willingness to pay of ethics people was higher than that of consequentialist people. The contingent valuation method estimated an average WTP of 199,793 IR Rials per household per visit and 519,461.8 IR Rials annually per family. The total annual recreation value for the Helen Protected Forest was estimated at 2,374,683,2564 IR Rials. Significantly, visitors’ environmental attitude emerged as a key factor influencing WTP. Analysis of the NEP scale revealed the highest average score (4.28) for the item “Plants and animals have as much right as humans to exist,” suggesting that visitors recognize the intrinsic value of nature.
Conclusion: The use of the new environmental paradigm, along with socio-economic variables, is one of the most important factors affecting people’s willingness to pay for recreational use of Helen Protected Forest. The high percentage of willingness to pay for using the recreation service of this forest is promising from a management perspective. These results indicate the possibility of expanding recreational services, which may consequently increase economic, social, and cultural development. Additionally, the findings from this research can help adopt a suitable pricing policy to protect the natural resources of Helen Forest.