Keywords
economic welfare, predator-prey model, life cycle, natural capital, ecotourist product
Start Date
1-7-2004 12:00 AM
Abstract
Ecotourism is a viable alternative for the development of regions and countries with a strongnatural resource base. Sustainable development involves the compatibility of the growth in the number oftourists and the preservation of ecologically valuable natural resources. This paper focuses on therelationships between environmental degradation and physical capital in the management of natural resourcebased tourist products. An ecotourist product is defined as a destination whose basic resource is nature andattracts an inflow of tourists as the main source of income. In particular, we introduce a simple predator-preymodel which allows us to derive a general pattern for natural capital with a final phase of declining. Thisparticular pattern is due to the negative influence of the implementation of physical infrastructure on naturalresources which are also major sources of consumer attraction. According to this, in a classical welfareoptimization framework, we have obtained optimal trajectories for the local consumption and the use ofnatural capital. In the steady state case, the optimal rate of consumption is strongly dependent on therelationship between the impacts of physical capital in both demand and environmental degradation. Theresults have general implications for consumer goods with negative externalities which are appreciated by thestatus of their environmental attributes.
Sustainable Environmental Degradation in Ecotourism Development
Ecotourism is a viable alternative for the development of regions and countries with a strongnatural resource base. Sustainable development involves the compatibility of the growth in the number oftourists and the preservation of ecologically valuable natural resources. This paper focuses on therelationships between environmental degradation and physical capital in the management of natural resourcebased tourist products. An ecotourist product is defined as a destination whose basic resource is nature andattracts an inflow of tourists as the main source of income. In particular, we introduce a simple predator-preymodel which allows us to derive a general pattern for natural capital with a final phase of declining. Thisparticular pattern is due to the negative influence of the implementation of physical infrastructure on naturalresources which are also major sources of consumer attraction. According to this, in a classical welfareoptimization framework, we have obtained optimal trajectories for the local consumption and the use ofnatural capital. In the steady state case, the optimal rate of consumption is strongly dependent on therelationship between the impacts of physical capital in both demand and environmental degradation. Theresults have general implications for consumer goods with negative externalities which are appreciated by thestatus of their environmental attributes.
