THE VALUE OF TIGER SHARK DIVING WITHIN THE ALIWAL SHOAL MARINE PROTECTED AREA: A TRAVEL COST ANALYSIS

Using on‐site survey data collected via the administration of a questionnaire to 197 respondents during the period stretching from January 2007 to December 2007 from the Aliwal Shoal Marine Protected Area, this study estimates and compares an ordinary least squares and two Poisson count data models of recreational tiger shark diving demand. The Poisson model corrected for endogenous stratification and truncation provided the best results. It was concluded that in 2007, the consumer surplus per person per tiger shark dive was R1,136, and the total consumer surplus per annum was R2,080,925.