Do policy changes influence respondents’ willingness to pay for tourism resources?

When societies face shocks such as public health crises, economic downturns, and other crises, governments often implement a series of regulatory policies to alleviate their impacts. However, few studies have examined the influence of shifting regulatory policies on respondents’ willingness to pay (WTP) in the field of tourism. From 2021 to 2023, China implemented three distinct prevention and control policies in response to the COVID-19 crisis, providing a natural experiment to investigate this issue. Based on eight independent groups of survey data collected from tourists and residents in 2021, 2022, and 2023, this study employs the Contingent Valuation Method and the Benefit Function Transfer Method to examine the influence of shifting regulatory policies on respondents’ WTP for the protection of tourism resources. The contribution of this paper lies in introducing the perspective of policy changes, revealing differences in value types and heterogeneity in respondents’ preferences. The results provide valuable insights into the fluctuations and recovery of the economic value of tourism resources in the context of crisis management.