Professor,
Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University

Associate Professor,
School of Economics, Okayama University

Professor/Director, Policy Design Lab
Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University

Coral reefs face a critical crisis worldwide because of rising ocean temperature, excessive use of resources, and red soil erosion. As reefs have great recreational and tourism value, the degradation of their quality may have a significant effect on tourism. This study employs a contingent behavior approach to estimate the effect of reef extinction on the recreational demand for Kume Island, Okinawa, Japan. We propose a Poisson-inverse Gaussian (PIG) model with correction for on-site sampling issues to derive a more accurate estimate of consumer surplus. The results show that the annual consumer surplus per person trip is 6,107 yen according to the RE-PIG model.