| Abstract: |
The Sundarban Reserve Forest (SRF) of Bangladesh provides tourism services to
local and international visitors. Indeed, tourism is one of the major
ecosystem services that this biodiversity-rich mangrove forest provides.
Through a convenient sampling technique, 421 tourist respondents were
interviewed to assess their willingness to pay for the tourism services of the
Sundarban, using the Zonal Travel Cost Method (ZTCM). The estimated annual
economic contribution of tourism in the Sundarban mangroves to the Bangladesh
economy is USD 53 million. The findings of this study showed that facilities
for watching wildlife and walking inside the forest can increase the number of
tourists in the SRF. The findings also show that the availability of
information like forest maps, wildlife precautionary signs, and danger zones
would increase the number of tourists as well. Thus, the government of
Bangladesh should consider increasing visitor entry fees to fund improvements
and to enhance the ecotourism potential of the Sundarban mangroves. |