Open AccessTourists’ Preferences for Alpine Pastures Maintenance
Author(s) -
Chiara Mazzocchi,
Guido Sali,
Giordano Ruggeri
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
landscape online
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.436
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 1865-1542
DOI - 10.3097/lo.201968
Subject(s) - pasture , agriculture , contingent valuation , work (physics) , valuation (finance) , tourism , geography , environmental resource management , sustainability , cluster (spacecraft) , willingness to pay , agroforestry , business , economics , environmental science , forestry , ecology , computer science , engineering , mechanical engineering , programming language , archaeology , finance , biology , microeconomics
Traditional extensive agriculture is the main factor of landscape management in the mountains: a large part of the Alps is modelled by agriculture. Interpreted as a multifunctional activity, including landscape modelling and maintenance, agriculture generates the conditions under which mountain pasture landscape is an economic resource potentially exploitable by tourism. The aim of this work is to draw the profiles of tourists of mountain pastures and to estimate their Willingness to Pay (WTP)for landscape pastures resilience. The innovation of this work lies in the use of a multivariate approach using Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA). The analysis obtained three clusters that identify different tourists’ profiles. The main result is the existence of a positive WTP for the permanence of pasture systems with an agricultural management. Policy guidelines have been proposed to institutions owning pastures and huts to manage these assets.