The event focused on sharing information on how entrances fees work, how they are determined or set, what the risks are, and how fees can be an avenue for community engagement through benefit sharing. The event was attended by 48 participants from 23 GWP countries.
Dr. Hugo Van Zyl, an expert on biodiversity conservation economics and finance, discussed challenges and best practices in PCA entrance fee systems. Mariuxi Farias Mejia, the Public Use Director at Galapagos National Park, followed with a presentation on how the Galapagos revised their entrance fees.
Key takeaways include:
• Entrance fees are likely to remain a major component of PCA revenue, accounting for a signficant share of self-generated or site-based park revenues—40-50 percent in the United States, 75 percent in Namibia, and 25-30 percent in Uganda and South Africa.
• Objectives for setting entrance fees include: generate revenue to cover the costs of conservation, promote optimal visitor numbers at certain sites and at certain times, manage ecological impacts, and reduce congestion. They can be used for socio-economic purposes, such as revenue sharing with communities, sustainable tourism, and environmental education.
• Determining entrance fee amounts usually depends on benchmarking against similar or competitor parks, assessing the tourism experience and facilities, conducting willingness-to-pay surveys, and stakeholder consultations.
• Management authorities are advised to review their fees every few years. Policy and public finance regulations need to be revised to make it easier for management authorities to adjust and update fees and retain revenue.
• Some recommendations for implementing entrance fees are to consider the social acceptability of paying for entry, set up a secure system for the collection and banking of fees, marketing and branding to support demand, and regularly update fees to adjust for demand.
• The Galapagos experience is an instructive case study on how to systematically reassess an entrance fee system. The park plans to use the additional revenues to improve visitor experience and infrastructure, manage invasive species, and conduct site monitoring. The park will continue measuring the potential impacts of the fee increase on the tourism sector and market.
