In this paper, the price elasticity of demand for dive tourism in three countries in South East Asia – Indonesia,
Thailand and Malaysia – is estimated using a travel-cost model.
From the model, the total non-market use value associated with diving in the area is estimated to be in the order of US$4.5 billion a year.
The price elasticity of demand in the region is highly inelastic, such that increasing the cost of diving through a management levy would have little impact on total diver numbers.