Open AccessEconomic spillover from Natural Protected Areas to conventional tourist destinations
Author(s) -
José Alberto Lara Pulido,
Alejandro Guevara Sanginés,
Vanessa Pérez Cirera,
Camilo Arias Martelo,
Carmina Isabel Jiménez Quiroga
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
economía, sociedad y territorio/economía, sociedad y territorio
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2448-6183
pISSN - 1405-8421
DOI - 10.22136/est20211690
Subject(s) - tourism , destinations , spillover effect , natural experiment , sustainability , tourist destinations , function (biology) , natural (archaeology) , econometric model , economics , economic impact analysis , business , geography , microeconomics , econometrics , ecology , statistics , mathematics , archaeology , evolutionary biology , biology
This paper examines the role of Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) as a source of economic spillovers for mass tourism destinations in Mexico. An econometric model was used to explain the number of booked rooms in tourism destinations as a function of proximity to NPAs, controlling for destination characteristics. A conservative estimate suggests that some rooms booked by foreign visitors can be explained by proximity to NPAs. Our results open public policy options, such as a compensating mechanism from conventional tourism to fund NPAs and show that they would be economically efficient and contribute to sustainability.