An Initial Examination of the Economic Impact of Nature Tourism on the Rio Grande Valley Report prepared for the South Texas Nature Marketing Coop by: Department of Recreation, Park & Tourism Sciences and Department of Agricultural Economics Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843 September 1, 2011 Report Authors Kyle M. Woosnam, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Recreation, Park & Tourism Sciences Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843 Rebekka M. Dudensing, Ph.D. Assistant Professor and Extension Economist Department of Agricultural Economics Texas AgriLife Extension Service College Station, Texas 77843 Dan Hanselka Extension Associate Department of Agricultural Economics Texas AgriLife Extension Service College Station, Texas 77843 Seonhee An Graduate Student Department of Recreation, Park & Tourism Sciences Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843 For questions or further information, please contact: Kyle M. Woosnam 979.845.9781
[email protected] Acknowledgements Many thanks go to the South Texas Nature Marketing Coop members and local volunteers for aiding in the collection of data for this project. They tirelessly and selflessly gave of their time on weekends and endured high temperatures in the process to have every potential survey instrument completed by visitors. The authors appreciate local, state, and federally managed sites that allowed us to collect data on-site as well. Finally, we acknowledge the numerous visitors to the study locations that completed each survey instrument. This project would not have been possible without so many hands helping to complete it. Executive Summary Few can dispute the importance of nature tourism in Texas, especially within the Lower Rio Grande Valley (the Valley).