Title: The economic evaluation of estuarine dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) watching tourism in the Cananéia region, south-eastern Brazil

Authors: Gislaine de Fatima Filla; Cláudia Inês Botelho de Oliveira; João Manuel Gonçalves; Emygdio Leite de Araujo Monteiro-Filho

Addresses: Instituto de Pesquisas Cananéia, Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Cananéia, SP, Brazil. ' Departamento de Oceanografia e Pescas, Universidade dos Açores, Horta, Portugal. ' Departamento de Oceanografia e Pescas, Universidade dos Açores, Horta, Portugal. ' Instituto de Pesquisas Cananéia, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Cananéia, SP, Brazil

Abstract: A study was conducted during 2005 and 2007, aiming at estimating the value of observation tourism of the estuarine dolphin in the Cananéia region and the satisfaction levels reported by the tourists. The measure of tourist satisfaction can be considered as high and the application of the Travel Cost Method depicted that the economic evaluation of this activity was estimated to be US$ 556,733.98. It is anticipated that this strong evidence of the economic benefits from dolphin watching will originate a more concrete and efficient public awareness of the estuarine dolphins, as well as of the environment in which they live.

Keywords: Brazil; environmental conservation; green economics; Sotalia guianensis; economic evaluation; satisfaction levels; green tourism; travel cost; whale watching; dolphin watching; environmental tourism; estuarine dolphins; tourist satisfaction; public awareness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGE.2012.048427

International Journal of Green Economics, 2012 Vol.6 No.1, pp.95 - 116

Published online: 12 Dec 2014 *

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