Submitted:
21 February 2026
Posted:
23 February 2026
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Abstract
La Paz Bay (BLP), Baja California Sur, Mexico, is one of the country's most important destinations for fishing tournament, with recreational fishing considered a significant tourist activity in terms of ecosystem services and the economic benefits it provides to participants. The purpose of this study was to estimate the demand for sport fishing tournaments and the monetary benefit of this activity through the willingness to pay (WTP) for access to fishing tournaments by anglers and based on it make some proposal of tourism promotion and recreational fisheries management. A total of 184 surveys were conducted at tournaments held in 2022 and 2023; the collected data were used to apply the individual travel cost method. The data enabled the description of the profile of anglers participating in fishing tournaments in BLP. The demand function for fishing tournaments was estimated, which includes seven determinants. With this information, the individual DAP per angler was estimated at USD 608.63, and the recreational economic value of fishing tournaments in La Paz is estimated at USD 1.08 million. Strategies for conserving species reserved for sport fishing and promoting tourism are discussed, which could help improve tournament activity and promote the rational use of natural resources.
Keywords:
economic value
; reserved species
; willingness-to-pay
; demand function
; cultural ecosystem services
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