What are tourists willing to pay for securing the survival of a flagship species? The case of protection of the Ethiopian wolf

Tourists visiting Ethiopia's Bale Mountains National Park are willing to pay up to US$5.82 per day for trips that support the protection and increase of the Ethiopian wolf population, a critically endangered flagship species. This willingness to pay (WTP) is significantly higher when the wolf population increases from 200 to a more viable 250, but diminishes for larger increases. Tourists also value expanded protected areas and better access to wolf habitats. The study, using choice experiment surveys and a random parameter logit model, reveals that prior experience with Ethiopian protected areas and encounters with other unique species in the park influence tourists' WTP. These findings highlight ecotourism's potential as a conservation tool for the Ethiopian wolf, driven primarily by its existence value.

Estifanos, T., Polyakov, M., Pandit, R., Hailu, A., & Burton, M. (2019). What are tourists willing to pay for securing the survival of a flagship species? The case of protection of the Ethiopian wolf. Tourism Economics, 27(1), 45–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354816619880430