Hacia una aproximación de la valoración económica en áreas protegidas. Estudio de caso: Parque Nacional Viñales, Cuba

The purpose of the present investigation consists of an economical valuation for natural resources of Viñales National Park (VNP), located in the Republic of Cuba, in agreement with the existing tourist potential. The valuation was carried out through the combined application of several techniques, firstly an analysis of the external and internal factors that provides to that the ecotourist product of the area may be in a situation where the weaknesses and opportunities prevail, was done, Later by means of the application of the Delphi Method the procedure to continue in the economic valuation and the different goods and environmental susceptible services of valuing is deeply proved. Through the application of requests to national visitors and foreigners that respond to the application of the contingent valuation method, the maximum willingness to pay (WTP) for the conservation of the environmental goods in the protected area is determined. In the case of the national visitors the willingness to pay depends on the age of people, being the group understood between 20-30 years the one with the most significance level, raising the value of $2.00 CUP (Cuban peso in national currency). On the other hand, the international visitors indicate that they can be willing to pay in more or smaller measure for a good or environmental service depending in the first place on their age, the distance to travel for arriving at the Viñales National Park, the earning that perceives and the main activity that they do. It is necessary to point out that more than 50% of the international visitors have a WTP of $3.00 CUC (Cuban peso in freely exchangeable currency). En la presente investigación se persigue la finalidad de valorar económicamente los recursos naturales del Parque Nacional Viñales de la República de Cuba en concordancia con el potencial turístico existente. La valoración se llevó a cabo a través de la aplicación combinada de varias técnicas, primeramente se realiza un análisis de los factores externos e internos que conllevan a que el producto ecoturístico del área se encuentre en una situación donde predominan las debilidades y oportunidades, posteriormente a través de la aplicación del Método Delphi se valida el procedimiento a seguir en la valoración económica y los diferentes bienes y servicios ambientales susceptibles de valorar. A través de la aplicación de encuestas a visitantes nacionales y extranjeros que responden a la aplicación del método de valoración co