Characterization of Birdwatching Demand Using a Logit Approach: Comparative Analysis of Source Markets (National vs. Foreign)

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Nature tourism, which includes birdwatching, has experienced a significant boom in recent years, becoming a highly attractive tourist typology. The economic benefit it generates for the destinations in which it develops is accompanied by a greater awareness in society about the importance of conserving its natural resources, which is materialized in a greater channeling of investments aimed at ensuring the correct conservation of natural heritage. Therefore, birdwatching has become a highly sustainable tourist product, with which a beneficial interaction between humans and the environment is achieved. In order to achieve these objectives, it is necessary to know exhaustively what the target market is like, that is, the profile of the birdwatcher; what are their sociodemographic characteristics, how do they behave at their destination, or what characteristics influence a greater probability of doing this practice. The purpose of this work is to identify the main characteristics of the demand in a territory that, due to its excellent endowment of natural resources, can become a priority destination for this type of tourism, the Extremadura region (Spain). ABSTRACT: Birdwatching is a tourism activity that relates closely to protected natural spaces and that helps contribute to the balance between economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainability. In some European countries (the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland), this recreational activity has a large number of followers, making it a new segment of tourist demand with great possibilities for growth. The objective of this study is to identify the main characteristics of the demand for birdwatching in one of the European territories having a high resource supply, as is the case with Extremadura (Spain). To do this, a logit modelization has been proposed in order to estimate the probability of going birdwatching in the region, based on a random sample of over 3000 tourists that visited the region in 2017. This characterization of birdwatching demand was carried out using variables such as gender, age, type of travel, type of lodging, and assessment of tourism services. Given that the national and the foreign demand of this tourism modality may present distinct behaviors, and therefore, specific characterizations, a structural change test (Chow test) was also conducted in order to determine to what extent these two segments of demand, based on the source markets, have (or do not have) distinguishing features.