In less developed areas the percentage is often lower. One study of the popular ecotourism destinations of the Annapurna region of Nepal found that only 10 cents of every dollar spent stayed in the local economy. Within the country the money may end up in the large cities or in the hands of the wealthy elite. Tourist dollars should help to acquire and improve management of conservation areas on which the tourism is based, but money from tourism does not often end up with the agencies that manage these areas. In Costa Rica the park services does not earn enough money from its entrance fees to manage and protect its numerous parks.
Tourists often resent paying large sums of money on entrance fees.
Although these fees are only a small portion of the money spent on a trip they can be the most important dollars spent in protecting the resource because they go directly toward protecting the site. Because we know so little about rainforests, it is difficult to know how many people can visit a rainforest in a day without disrupting the forest ecology. There is some evidence that just the presence of travelers walking on trails through the forest changes the behavior of animals in the forest. But a larger impact on the forest comes from stresses on the environment in accommodating the physical needs and comforts of the tourists. Trash, fuel wood, living etc.