Willingness to pay as an economic instrument for managing nature-based tourism in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

In remote mountain tourist destinations across Pakistan, the issue of insufficient public funds for effective management and operations is prevalent. To address this concern, an effective strategy involves introducing entrance fees for designated tourist destinations. This study delves into tourists’ willingness to pay for such entry fees, focusing specifically on the Hunza Valley. To conduct this investigation, empirical data from 1046 tourists were collected through on-site surveys, employing the contingent valuation survey method and statistical model was subsequently estimated using the logistic regression technique. This study reveals that a significant 69.6% of the respondents expressed their willingness to pay an entry fee, should it be introduced. It argues that introducing an entry fee is unlikely to significantly impact tourist arrivals confirming that the demand for tourism experiences is not greatly influenced by the presence of such fees. This study identifies various influential factors, including the bid price, income levels, tourists’ age, type of recreational activities, and duration of stay that play a significant role in shaping tourists’ willingness to pay. Drawing from these insights, this study argues that the introduction of entrance fees at tourist destinations has the potential to address the financial challenges linked to site maintenance and management. However, it underscores the crucial need to establish a robust institutional mechanism for implementing such fees and such mechanism should be developed in close collaboration with pertinent stakeholders in the tourism sector, which in turn helps to achieve sustainable tourism development in the region.