PREDISPOSIZIONE DEI TURISTI NEI CONFRONTI DELLA FAUNA SELVATICA: UN DISCRETE CHOICE EXPERIMENT PER IL CASO DEL LUPO, DELLA LINCE E DELLA SALAMANDRA DI AURORA

The aim of the study was to analyse some cognitive aspects of the human-widlife relationship, in this particular case the wildlife value orientations showed by a sample of Italian tourists. Value orientations are human mind’s psychological concepts that serve as intermediary between values, ideologies of a person and his behaviour, his opinion about a specific issue. Related to the psychological model, we applied a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) in order to evaluate tourists’ preferences and WTP for the preservation of three threatened species in the region: wolf, lynx and aurora salamander. The innovative aspect of this study was to investigate whether references and WTPs changes according to tourists’ value orientations towards wildlife, and if this aspect could have relevant policy implications. The 75% of the sample appeared to be willing to pay a 12-13€ ticket for an increase in the number of wolves and lynxes up to 50. This result showed how the majority of the tourists evaluate the presence of predators like wolf and lynx in Trentino.