The economic valuation of climate change policies in tourism: impact of joint valuation, emotions, and Information

Abstract

Climate change policies may compete for scarce economic resources with other alternative policies that might also be needed in tourist destinations. This article studies the economic valuation of tourists of a “carbon neutral” destination policy in the Canary Islands, under the context of joint valuation with potential alternative tourism policies, taking into account the impact of emotions and knowledge. Results show that the economic value assigned by tourists for this policy increases when other competing policy alternatives are jointly evaluated. In addition, the amount of knowledge on the causes and consequences of climate change positively influences the economic value the tourists give to the carbon-neutral policy. Negative emotions such as fear, anger, and sadness also raise the economic value assigned by tourists. The results have implications for the design of tourism policies and the study of the economic value of tourism policies.