Quanto vale um recife? Uma abordagem sobre a disposição a pagar pelo turismo recifal

Abstract

Tropical reefs are home to approximately 25% of marine biodiversity and provide several essential ecosystem services, such as tourism—which generates billions of dollars annually for coastal regions—food provision, coastal protection, and aesthetic value. However, how climate change and reef degradation affect tourist interest in visiting reefs is still poorly understood. This study economically evaluated tourists' perceptions of visiting the reefs of the Coral Reef Environmental Protection Area (APARC) in Rio Grande do Norte (RN) in six different conservation scenarios, which vary in terms of coral health and fish presence and diversity. It was hypothesized that more conserved scenarios (healthy corals, fish presence and diversity) would be more valued than less conserved scenarios (bleached corals and fish absence), and that prior experience in a reef ecosystem would influence willingness to pay (WTP) for visitation in different scenarios. Using the contingent valuation method and the WTP tool, with visual support from printed photos, 63 interviews with tourists were conducted after the reef tour. The results show that tourists assigned significantly higher monetary values to scenarios with fish presence, regardless of species richness and coral health, demonstrating a devaluation of up to 23% in scenarios without fish and with bleached corals. Previous reef experience did not significantly influence WTP, indicating that visitors perceive aesthetic changes in the scenarios similarly, regardless of whether they have visited a reef before. Based on the average WTPs of the extreme scenarios (healthy corals with greater fish diversity vs. bleached corals without fish), it is estimated that reef degradation could result in an annual loss of up to R$ 4.3 million in revenue from reef tourism for various economic sectors in Rio Grande do Norte. Thus, the data reinforce the importance of considering the aesthetics of the reef environment and the socioeconomic role of tourism activity in formulating public policies aimed at marine conservation.