Economic value of Caribbean flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) at Celestun Biosphere Reserve, Yucatan, Mexico: A birdwatching-tourism approach

Abstract

· Bird watching activities are increasing worldwide, allowing for a closer citizen-nature experience. These activities are considered to promote biodiversity conservation values. We assessed the economic value of the Caribbean Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) at the Celestun Biosphere Reserve, Yucatan, Mexico. Celestun has become an important destination for birdwatching-based tourism because of the presence of flamingo flocks in its coastal lagoon. Flamingos at Celestun attract approximately 50,000 national and international visitors yearly. The human population of Celestun is approximately 6,800 inhabitants; their livelihoods mainly depend on fishing, and more recently on bird watching tourism. In order to assess the economic value of flamingo-watching at Celestun, we interviewed 427 visitor groups after they took a flamingo-watching motorboat tour. We conducted the interviews during three of the highest tourism seasons within a year period (2012–2013). The interview questions were directed towards the visitors’ place of origin, their main reasons for visiting Celestun, and how much money they spent traveling, using a direct questionnaire with a total of 37 items. We applied the Travel Cost Method in order to estimate the economic value for flamingo-watching at Celestun. For approximately 80% of the interviewed visitors, flamingos were the main reason to visit Celestun. We obtained a total of US$16,542,004 as the “Flamingo value” placed by visitors.