Economic Benefits to Conserve the Tourism Potential of Chifron Beach in the District of Capachica, Puno, Peru

Galindo J.W.P.; Roldán-Clarà B.; Mendoza A.P.C. · Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems (2022) · DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-96150-3_8

Resumen

Chifron beach in the Capachica district, Puno, Peru, is a potential tourism resource in critical conservation due to pollution by solid wastes, visual contamination from graffiti painted on rock zones, and alteration of beaches by extraction of sand for construction. These perturbations threaten the quality of the beach and water, and have an impact on neighbouring households due to solid wastes carried by the wind to their homes. In consequence, in this paper we attempted to contribute to stimulate economic benefits for conserving Chifron beach through the identification of the socioeconomic profile of tourists affecting their willingness to pay an entrance fee for conservation, and the quantification of that fee through the application of a survey and the contingent valuation method. Results from our surveying of 252 visitors of the beach showed that 54% are male, 53% are married, 76% have higher education, 66% work in private or public institutions, 34% have their own business, 27% are residents of rural areas, and 73% live in urban areas of different cities. 94% of the tourists agreed that the beach should be cleaned and sanitary services be available. On the negative side, 66% of the surveyed tourists rated the cleanliness and hygiene of the sand as poor, and 64% considered the cleanliness and hygiene of the shoreline as poor. On the positive side, 59% of the tourists rated the landscape at the beach as very good. We found that 63% of the visitors would be willing to pay an entrance fee for conservation of the beach of PEN 2.40 (MXN 15.61) for adults and 50% of that amount for children for the conservation of the touristic resource. We concluded that, although the conservation condition of Chifron beach is critical, there is willingness to pay for visiting the beach among visitors, as long as it is in optimal conditions, that is, with clean sand and shoreline, and provided with sanitary facilities. Our analysis identified that monthly income and educational level of visitors was directly proportional to their willingness to pay for a conservation fee, and the hypothetical cost of visiting the beach was inversely proportional to that willingness to pay.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional del Altiplano