Reimagining coastal tourism through satoumi: community-based coastal governance around indigenous communities of eastern Taiwan

Abstract

Coastal settlements with abundant natural assets can translate conservation ideals into livelihood-based tourism through the Satoumi paradigm, which prizes the co-evolution of people and seascapes. Focusing on Fengbin Township, Hualien, this study used a tailored choice experiment to quantify how visitors negotiate trade-offs embedded in community-based governance, including travel depth, guide mechanisms, harvesting controls, coastal recreation facilities, and funds. Attributes and levels were distilled from field observations, expert interviews, and a review of Satoumi case studies, then estimated with Conditional Logit and Random-Parameter Logit models. Results show visitors are willing to pay NT$ 102 for tours grounded in Indigenous ecological knowledge and NT$ 70 for harvest access restricted to local residents or guided tours, while they consistently reject mass-tourism formats, heavy-footprint facilities, and blanket no-take zones that disregard resident livelihoods. These preference patterns reveal that market demand dovetails with adaptive, community-driven management, providing both social licence and financial rationale for Satoumi-style stewardship. The evidence offers concrete guidance for policymakers: align coastal zoning, permitting, and incentive schemes with Indigenous knowledge systems and visitor preferences to safeguard biodiversity and sustain local economies, turning sustainability rhetoric into scalable practice.