Willingness to Pay Analysis for The Conservation of Edupark Mangrove

Abstract The increase in the number of visitors to Edupark Mangrove Camar has caused environmental degradation and damage to the mangrove ecosystem. Efforts to develop management and conservation strategies at Edupark Mangrove Camar need to be implemented. An important aspect of implementing these strategies is the participation of visitors as users of public goods to provide economic value for the use of mangrove forest tourism services. Willingness to Pay (WTP) is an approach to measure the economic value that visitors are willing to pay for development efforts at Edupark Mangrove Camar. The contingent valuation method (CVM), using the double bounded dichotomous choice (DBDC) bidding technique, is used to determine the amount of visitors’ bid value. The non-parametric estimation models Kaplan-Meier-Turnbull (KMT) and Spearman-Karber (SK) are used to estimate the average WTP value of visitors. To determine the factors influencing visitors’ WTP, binary logistic regression analysis is used. Based on WTPKMT and WTPSK, the average WTP values are obtained at Rp. 21,529 and Rp. 25,820, respectively. Based on the binary logistic regression analysis, it is found that the variables gender (female), high local ecological knowledge, and high awareness have a significant influence on WTP.