Abstract:Ecological compensation has proven to be effective for solving externalities related to environmental problems, and has been adopted in many countries. Ecological compensation ranges from the ecological improvement of damaged(or affected) areas to the creation of entirely new habitats or ecosystems, generally the same or at least similar to those that were lost. The determination of an ecological compensation standard(ECS) is a key issue. The ECS was assessed using the market value, opportunity cost, willingness to pay, and cost analysis approaches. In the international ecological economics field, ecological compensation is referred to as "payments for ecosystem-environmental services(PES)." PES is based on the principle that those who provide environmental services should be compensated and those who derive the benefits should pay. The PES can be defined as voluntary and conditional transactions over well-defined environmental services(or land uses likely to produce the services) between at least one supplier and one user.Sustainable development for island tourism has become a focus of research in this area. However, research regarding island tourist's ecological compensation is still rather scarce, which is unfavorable for protecting and developing recovery policies for island tourist destination(ITD). Island ecosystems are fragile and easily impacted by human activity. The environmental sustainability of ITD is a necessary condition for island tourism sustainability, but it can be endangered by island tourism development. Internationally, tourist taxes(such as accommodation or fuel taxes) and extra entrance fees have become increasingly popular tools for addressing environmental problems associated with tourism. Using tourism taxes(or fees) to moderate and alleviate environmental impacts is defendable on the grounds of the "polluter pays principle"(or the "user pays principle"). As a Coasean market solution to externalities associated with environmental problems, PES has attracted increasing interest in tourist eco-compensation research.Based on the theories of ecological compensation, a methodology for ECSs of ITDs was constructed; it consisted of defining spatial scales, establishing a material quantity accounting system for specific and general ECSs, constructing a material quantity evaluation model and value assessment mode for specific and general ECSs, and designing an allocation scheme for specific and general ECSs. The methodology was applied to the Putuo District in Zhoushan City, China. The results showed the following. 1) The specific ECS of ITD in the Putuo District was 687.2552×104 Yuan and the general ECS was 6656.5528×104 Yuan in 2008. The ECS allocated to stages Ⅱ, Ⅱ-Ⅲ, and Ⅱ-Ⅳ were 687.2552×104, 5794.5577×104 and 6656.5528×104 Yuan, respectively. 2) Tourists from Zhoushan City, the Hu-Ning-Hang region(excluding Zhoushan City), domestic locations(excluding the Hu-Ning-Hang region), and international locations(including Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) all contributed 1.90 Yuan for ECS per person-time during stage Ⅱ. They contributed 1.90, 3.94, 29.96, and 207.57 Yuan, respectively, per person-time during stages Ⅱ-Ⅲ, and 3.29, 5.33, 31.35, and 208.96 Yuan, respectively, per person-time during stages Ⅱ-Ⅳ.