台灣東部賞鯨旅遊之登船港口遊憩效益評估

Measuring Recreational Values of Whale-watching Access in Eastern Taiwan

為因應賞鯨生態旅遊之活動，相關單位投入於維護管理出遊港口及其周邊設施之經費需求日益殷切，然在有限的經費的情況下，有關當局決策維護管理海港之投入需有優先順序。本研究針對東部海岸賞鯨活動衍生之遊憩價值進行推估，評估東海岸賞鯨登船港口與賞鯨海域之遊憩效益。由本研究的推估結果，當經費有限而需關閉海域之賞鯨服務，以宜蘭地區所造成的遊憩效益損失最大，其次為花蓮地區，最後是台東地區。由此項社會效益值的推估值來看，未來對賞鯨登船港口管理資源之配置順序可以宜蘭地區為優先，再依序是花蓮地區與台東地區。

The purpose of this paper is to estimate economic values associated with access to whale watching sites in eastern Taiwan. Respondents are assumed to choose target sea areas and then choose harbor to put to sea. The determinants of site choice include the site-specific cost and the quality of the trip. Using random utility model (RUM), we first examined the optimal choice structure in terms of a rea-based and harbor-based choice sets. We find that distance, congestion, access to whale-watching information, and abundance of whales are important factors in the recreational decision of whale watchers. The economic losses of sea area closure are the largest at I-Lan, followed by Hwa-Lien, and Taitung areas. The result may then be further to set priorities on public investment schemes resulting from possible budget deficit.