Examining the Economic Value of Tourism and Visitor Preferences: A Portrait of Sustainability Ecotourism in the Tangkahan Protection Area, Gunung Leuser National Park, North Sumatra, Indonesia

Abstract

North Sumatra Province has the Tangkahan Nature Tourism Area, which represents ecotourism managed by local communities, established in 2001, which has now become the leading tourism destination of North Sumatra both locally and internationally. Tangkahan ecotourism is an example of payment for environmental services for the Tangkahan community, which initially carried out illegal logging in the mount Leuseur national park and then agreed to preserve the national park through ecotourism. This study aims to analyze the economic value of tourism and the preferences of tourists to revisit, along with the factors that influence them, where these conditions can be an illustration of the sustainability of Tangkahan ecotourism. The travel cost method is used to calculate the economic value of Tangkahan Ecotourism environmental services. The factors that affect the economic value, intensity of visits, and interest in revisiting, were analyzed using multiple linear regression. The results showed that Tangkahan ecotourism has a relatively high economic value, supported by the intensity and interest of tourist visits. Factors that affect the economic value and preferences of tourist visits can be managed for the sustainability of Tangkahan ecotourism so as not to lose the economic value of the ecotourism environmental services.