Estimation of Ecotourism Value by the Use of Contingent Valuation Case Study: Sahoolan Mahabad Cave

Sahoolan cave, as one of the ecotourism and geotourism attractions of Mahabad, is an important tourism area of Iran. Therefore the study of its ecotourism value can be effective in predicting needs, eliminate of deficiencies and tourisms development in the area. The aim of this research is to estimate each tourism value for Sohoolan cave by the use of contingent valuation method. In order to study the effective factors on the peoples’ willing to pay, the Logit model with maximum likelihood method was estimated. The required date were collected by filling questionnaire and interview with 160 visitors of the said area. The results showed that 88.4 present of visitors are willing to pay for using the said cave. Also, variables including education, attraction of Sahoolan cave, income and the proposed price has significant effect on the probability of willing to pay of the people, But the variables of gender, age, size of family were not statistically significant but they had the expected signs. The average willingness of people to pay and the annual ecotourism value of Sahoolan cave has estimated about 4235 and 847,000,000 Rials respectively. Therefore, with respect to the great importance of Sohoolan Mahabad Cave from the view point of visitors, will require that planners and authorities to have more attention to this area for tourisms development and increasing the number of visitors and tourists and enhancing the welfare of visitors.