(Un)willingness to pay to visit a national park from a sustainable entrepreneurial tourism perspective

As the number of protected areas increases in a country, there is a need for entrepreneurial action to maximize the environmental and economic benefits of nature-based tourism and to complement government funding. Establishing an entrance fee to visit these protected areas could be a good option to ensure long-term economic sustainability. Therefore, using Herzberg's theory of motivation-hygiene and the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis methodology (fsQCA) as a valid theoretical framework, this study aims to analyze the combined effects of both motivating and hygiene variables which lead to the absence of willingness to pay (WTP) an entrance fee to visit a national park. The findings indicate that motivating factors, such as prior visits to other national parks, the inclination to visit a national park, or a strong commitment to environmental issues, were more important than hygiene factors, such as value for money and overall satisfaction with the visit. Managerial implications and directions for future studies are also discussed. • New forms of financing should be explored to manage natural parks. • Motivating factors are more important than hygiene factors to affect visitors' WTP. • Visitors' habits play a key role in explaining the visitors' WTP. • Satisfaction with the visit plays a secondary role in explaining the visitors' WTP. • No differences between men and women in the intention to pay or not an entrance fee.