The Recreational Potential and Livelihood Security Offered by Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, Kerala, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36808/if/2025/v151i10/170281Keywords:
Ecotourism, Individual travel cost, Consumer surplus, Recreational demand.Abstract
Tourism, one of the fastest growing sectors, provides economic prosperity through its dynamic employment opportunity. The sector remains robust, ensuring the mounting number of visitors reaching their tourist destinations. Valuing the recreational potential of a Protected Area aids in public policy making and decisions on the management of resources by balancing the pertinent costs and benefits. The objective of the study is to bring out the recreational value of Parambikulam Tiger Reserve (PKMTR) in Kerala through Individual Travel Cost Method using a structured questionnaire survey covering the socio-economic details, the number of visits and cost per visit, the time spent among the visitors to elicit sustainable management and proper allocation of resources. The study also highlights the livelihood security offered by the tourism sector to the resident community in PKMTR. The recreational value of PKMTR was found to be ` 110 million/year playing a strategic role in the livelihood security of the primary stakeholders, as the tribal communities are being employed as part of the Participatory Forest Management (PFM) in PKMTR. This mode of employment has aided in reducing the extractive resource dependence on the forest. Improved understanding of the recreational value of the Reserve among the various stakeholders helps in the proper maintenance of the region, which attracts more environment-sensitive visitors.
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