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closeMarketing costs
Posted by RCampbell on 24 Jun 2012 at 06:54 GMT
Operators were asked to determine the length of lease of their hunting block(s), and provide an estimate of the total start-up and annual running costs (split into fixed and variable) associated with their hunting operation.
http://plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0029332#article1.body1.sec2.sec2.p1
It is unclear from this description what consideration, if any, has been made of the marketing costs that hunting operators must incur. Marketing costs certainly exist, as shown by the location of Lindsey et al.’s surveys at trophy hunting conventions in the USA. The costs of running stalls at such conventions are significant, and other marketing costs requiring contacts, space and staff in developed countries must be considered.
If marketing costs have been omitted from the analysis, the return on investment of all operators is increased. This means the number of financially viable blocks in Lindsey et al.’s initial scenario is overstated and the change to non-viability with reduced lion hunting is exacerbated.