269-287

• Villalobos Céspedes, Daniel
• Galdeano-Gómez, Emilio
• Tolón-Becerra, Alfredo

Demand for tourist activities related to natural spaces and wildlife has increased over recent years. This paper analyses the influence of socio-demographic and travel indicators on international demand for such tourism in Costa Rica. Using discrete choice models, a range of principal activities is studied: hiking, visits to volcanoes, observation of flora and fauna, bird-watching and canoeing. The results show the favourable influence on demand of variables such as family, travel with partners and country of origin, providing orientation for policies and strategies of the nature-based tourism in Costa Rica, as well as indicators for other countries interested in developing this sector

• Other social sciences

• Τουρισμός

nature-based tourism, international demand, activity, discrete choice model, Costa Rica

UDC: 338.48+640(050), JEL Classification: L83, M1, O1, This research was partially funded by Spanish MCINN and FEDER aid (projects ECO2008-02258 and ECO2011-24930) and from Junta de Andalucía (project SEJ-5827, Consejería de Economía, Innovación y Ciencia).

1. Allam, M. (2010). Forest-based tourism in Bangladesh: status, problems, and prospects. Tourismos, Vol. 5, No.1, pp.163-172. Alegre, J. & Pou, L. (2004). Micro-economic determinants of the probability of tourism consumption. Tourism Economics, Vol. 10, No.2, pp.125-144. Bentley, T.A. & Page, S.J. (2008). A decade of injury monitoring in the New Zealand adventure tourism sector: A summary risk analysis. Tourism Management, Vol. 29, No.5, pp.857-869. Buckley, R.C. (2007). Adventure tourism products: price, duration, size, skill, remoteness. Tourism Management, Vol. 28, No.6, pp.1428-1433. Cater, C.I. (2006). Playing with risk? Participant perceptions of risk and management implications in adventure tourism. Tourism Management, Vol. 27, No.2, pp.317-325. Collins, D. & Tisdell, C. (2002). Age-related lifecycles. Purpose variations. Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 29, No.3, pp.801-833. Cordel, H.K. (2004). Outdoor Recreation Personalities. In H.K Cordell (Eds.) Outdoor Recreation for 21st Century America (pp. 233-263), State Collage, PA: Venture Publishing, Inc. Curtin, S. (2010). The self-presentation and self-development of serious wildlife tourists. International Journal of Tourism Research, Vol. 12, No.1, pp.17-33. Galloway, G., Mitchell, R., Getz, D., Crouch, G. & Ong, B. (2008). Sensation seeking and the prediction of attitudes and behaviours of wine tourists. Tourism Managemet, Vol. 29, No.5, pp.950-966. Glover, P. & Prideaux, B. (2009). Implications of population ageing for the development of tourism products and destinations. Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 15, No.1, pp.25-37. Heckman, J.J. (2001). Micro data, heterogeneity, and the evaluation of public policy: novel lecture. Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 109, No.4, pp.673-748. Instituto Costarricense de Turismo, ICT (2009). Encuesta Aérea de No Residentes 2008. San José, Costa Rica: ICT. Jackiewicz, E.L. (2005). Tourism without threat? Excerpts from rural Costa Rica. Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 32, No.1, pp.266-268. Kattiyapornpong, U. & Miller, K.E. (2008). A practitioner's report on the interactive effects of socio-demographic barriers to travel. Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 14, No.4, p.357. Karmakar, M. (2011). Ecotourism and its impact on the regional economy – a study of north Bengal (India). Tourismos, Vol. 6, No.1, pp.251-270. Khan, S. (2011). Gendered leisure: are women more constrained in travel for leisure? Tourismos, Vol. 6, No.1, pp.105-121. Kline, J.D. (2001). Tourism and Natural Resource Management: A General Overview of Research and Issues. General Technical Report PNW-GTR-506. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Services. Laarman, J.G. & Perdue, R.R. (1989). Science tourism in Costa Rica. Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 16, No.2, pp.205-215. Lee, C.K., Lee, J.H., Mjelde, J.W., Scott, D. & Kim, T.K. (2009). Assessing the economic value of a public bird watching interpretative service using a contingent valuation method. International Journal of Tourism Research, Vol. 11, No.6, pp.583-593. Lee, J.H., Scott, D. & Floyd, M.H. (2001). Structural inequalities in outdoor recreation participation: A multiple hierarchy stratification perspective. Journal of Leisure Research, Vol. 33, No.4, pp.427-449. Lehto, X.Y., Jang, S., Achana, F. & O'Leary, F.T. (2008). Exploring tourism experience sought: A cohort comparison of Baby Boomers and the silent generation. Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 14, No.3, pp.237-252. Manski, C. (1977). The structure of random utility models. Theory and Decision, Vol. 8, pp.229-254. McFadden, D. (1974). Conditional logit analysis of qualitative choice behavior. In P. Zarembka (Ed.) Frontiers in Econometrics (pp.105-142). New York: Academic Press. Markides, K., Liang, J. & Jackson, J. (1990). Race, ethnicity and aging: Conceptual and methodological issues. In R.H. Binstock and L.K. George (Eds.), Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences (3rd edition), San Diego: Academy Press Inc. Marzuki, A., Hussin, A., Mohamed, B., Othman, A. G. & Mat Som, A. (2011). Assessment of nature-based tourism in south Kelantan, Malaysia. Tourismos, Vol. 6, No.1, pp.281-295. Mcgehee, M., Loker-Murphy, L. & Uysal, M. (1996). The Australian international pleasure travel market: Motivations from a gendered perspective. Journal of Tourism Studies, Vol. 7, No.1, pp.45-57. Meric, H.J. & Hunt, J. (1998). Ecotourists motivational and demographic characteristics: a case of North Carolina travelers. Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 36, No.4, pp.57-61. Miller, A.P. (2008). The high tech industry, tourism and economic growth in Costa Rica. Paper presented at the 66th Annual Midwest Political Science Association Conference, Chicago, IL: April 3-6, 2008. Http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p267591_index.html Nickerson, N.P. & Jurowski, C. (2001). The influence of children on vacation travel patterns. Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 7, No.1, pp.19-30. Opperman, M. (1995). Family life cycle and cohort effects: A study of travel patterns of German residents. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, Vol. 4, No.1, pp.23-44. Pouta, E., Neuvonen, M. & Sievänen, T. (2009). Participation in cross-country skiing in Finland under climate change: application of multiple hierarchy stratification perspective. Journal of Leisure Research, Vol. 41, No.1, pp.87-104. Sayed, A.T. (2010). Evaluating the relationship between the socio-demographic variables, travel experience and the probability to return to destination. The case of French tourists in Egypt. Tourismos, Vol. 5, No.1, pp.111-129. Stem, C.J., Lassoie, J.P., Lee, D.R., Deshler, D.D. & Schelhas, J.W. (2003). Community participation in ecotourism benefits: the link to conservation practices and perspectives. Society and Natural Resources, Vol. 16, No.5, pp.387-413. Sung, H.H. (2004). Classification of adventure travelers: behavior, decision making, and target markets. Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 42, No.4, pp.343-356. Truong, T.H. & King, B. (2009). An evaluation of satisfaction levels among Chinese tourists in Vietnam. International Journal of Tourism Research, Vol. 11, No.6, pp.521-535. Woodside, A.G. & Pitts, R. (1976). Effects of consumer lifestyles, demographics and travel activities of foreign and domestic travel behavior. Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 14 (winter), pp.13-15. Yoon, Y. & Uysal, M. (2005). An examination of the effects of motivation and satisfaction on destination loyalty: a structural model. Tourism Management, Vol. 26, No.1, pp.45-56.