ESTIMATION THE PREFERENCE OF ECOTOURISM FOR GAOMEI WETLAND IN TAIWAN

Abstract

Gaomei Wetland is not only the biggest grassy coastal wetland, but also a wild‐animal protecting area, located on the west‐central coast of Taiwan.Wetlands are considered as one of the most important natural resource, which offer a lot of benefits for human and other creatures. However, it is believed that over-intensive recreational activities in Gaomei Wetland should be responsible for serious damages on natural environment and ecosystem.

This study takes Gaomei wetland as an example, and aims to estimate its landscape and ecological services values through Choice experiment. The results of this research showed that Gaomei landscape’s economic value is $2.06 million (USD) per year, and $1.54 million (USD) for its value of ecological services. These findings can help to bring up the awareness of natural resource preservation, and hopefully to keep Gaomei Wetland substantial. The results also indicated that visitors with undergraduate degree or above were willing to pay $6.43 (USD) per year for entry fee to enjoy sunset scenery in Gaomei wetland.