title: Paying for national parks: park pricing and the value of nature-based tourism in Sri Lanka
Creators: name: Thirumarpan, Krishnal
Publisher: name: University of Reading
Year: 2023

description: In the last couple of decades, an increasing trend has been observed globally for 
outdoor recreational activities at natural sites, and national parks are no exception. 
Despite the benefits received from national parks, whether parks receive enough 
funds for conservation and management is still questionable. Currently, Sri Lanka 
charges a park entrance fee of Rs.60 (US$ 0.17) per local tourist and US$ 15 per 
foreigner, which are considerably lower than other comparable countries. Out of the 
total revenue earned from park entry fees, more than 90% was contributed by foreign 
tickets. Even though the country has experienced a substantial rise in tourism 
following the end of the civil war, tourist arrivals were reduced by the Easter Sunday 
attack and the COVID-19 pandemic. Within this context, this study examines the
conservation and management of park resources for the sustainable development of 
national parks in Sri Lanka.
The literature on the theories and rationales behind park entry fees were explored,
and key informant interviews were conducted with Department higher officials and 
park wardens to determine their perceptions about funding for national parks and 
park prices. This established that national parks are often considered club goods or 
public goods, and Sri Lankan parks can be considered club goods. Though the current 
entrance fee is relatively low, it was found that the total amount of money a tourist 
has to spend to enter the park is nearly ten times higher than the entrance fee. It was 
also observed that Sri Lanka had made use of differential pricing in national parks, 
and a comparatively higher revenue was received from foreigners than locals. A contingent valuation study was used to estimate the willingness-to-pay of local 
tourists and estimated the revenue-maximizing entrance fee for parks in Sri Lanka. 
This was conducted in four national parks in Sri Lanka, by surveying 150 local tourists. 
The results suggested that younger tourists were willing to contribute more than older 
people, and the respondent's income positively influenced their willingness-to-pay. 
The mean willingness-to-pay by local tourists was Rs. 109.19, which was higher than 
the current entrance fee. The optimal price that would maximize the expected revenue 
for the normal distribution was estimated to be between Rs. 77.50, and for gamma 
distribution was Rs. 79.25. Although the current entry fee is the same for all the 
national parks in Sri Lanka, it was found that revenue-maximizing optimum entrance 
fees for Wilpattu, Hikkaduwa, and Pigeon Island parks were Rs. 88.50 Rs. 87.25, and 
Rs. 74.25 respectively, suggesting that a price differentiation by sites might be 
implemented. Together these results suggested that there might be some limited scope 
to raise revenues from local tourists for the sustainable management of parks.
Although the study did not include foreigners, secondary data revealed that there is 
high scope to increase the revenue by increasing the entrance fees for foreigners. 
This study further explored how locals who may or may not have visited the parks 
were willing to fund the national parks in Sri Lanka if there was no revenue from 
international tourism. In order to accomplish this, a novel qualitative vignette 
approach was used. Two vignettes were developed, and individual interviews were 
done with local tourists and non-tourists. The first vignette aimed to understand the 
participant’s background knowledge about the national parks of Sri Lanka. The 
second vignette was designed to explore the participant’s knowledge and perception about the sustainable management of national parks as well as to find out the
willingness of respondents to conserve the national parks by various means when 
there is a loss of revenue from park tourism. The results revealed the awareness of the 
importance and benefits of parks and the positive attitudes of locals towards the 
conservation of parks. Further, it was found that locals were willing to contribute to 
the management of parks by direct contributions. They expressed confidence in being 
able to collect funds through multiple organisations. Therefore, locals would directly 
or indirectly contribute to the protection of parks when there is no revenue from 
foreign tourism and the Government of Sri Lanka may have considerable support 
from its citizens to protect and manage parks in crises.
The results of the study can be used as propositions leading to the development of a 
comprehensive policy plan for national parks in Sri Lanka. A revenue-maximizing 
entrance fee combined with voluntary donations at park sites is considered to be a 
viable option to overcome any sudden loss of tourism revenue. It is proposed to 
initiate necessary action to revise the entrance fee of national parks since the entrance 
fee was not revised for more than a decade. Moreover, the department can consider 
implementing a park-specific entrance fees system after carrying out a detailed 
willingness-to-pay study focusing on foreign tourists, and gradually after assessing 
the actual demand responses of each park.