The contingent valuation method
The CVM is possibly the least rigorous and technically developed of the three methods, but arguably now the most popular. It has become widely accepted by politicians, particularly in the US, as a valid basis for compensation in cases of environmental degradation, since it is compatible with the concept of democracy and valuation by the population at large. It has the merit of being, not only simply, flexible and easily understood, but also the broadest in covering use and non-use values and both residents and visitors. Its main drawback is that, to date, it has investigated virtually only hypothetical situations. However, it could be applied to real-life circumstances where a decision has to be made on specific resources when WTP and/or WTA need to be ascertained and payment and /or compensation actually made. However, despite a substantial body of academic work on its use with respect to environmental quality and pollution, it has as yet been widely employed neither as an appropriate method of establishing society’s evaluation of natural and built environments, nor as a feasible means for making decisions on resources allocation. This applies equally to its use in tourism, where although it has been applied in ecological and environmental research fields, it has hardly engaged the attention of tourism economics (Wanhill, 2007)