A Glimpse of the Tiger: How Much are Indians Willing to Pay for It?

The recreational demand for the Indian Sundarban, which is a World Heritage site and a complex mangrove ecosystem that borders India and Bangladesh is estimated. Two alternative methodologies exist for estimating the value of a recreational site. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), as a ‘stated preference’ valuation technique, circumvents the absence of markets for environmental goods. this method does not record visitors’ actual behaviour, literature on such techniques indicates that when there is a market for the service to be valued, CVM should be avoided. That is why the Travel Cost Method (TCM) is chosen. The study relied on a primary survey of a sample of visitors to the Indian Sundarban from November 2005 to March 2006. [SANDEE].