Objective: to determine the economic impact through the cost-benefit analysis of hunting tourism in extractive type UMAs within the Sierra Fría Protected Natural Area, in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico.Design/methodology/approximation: an instrument (questionnaire) was designed with indicators and variables that allowed creating a database and performing the cost-benefit analysis (CB). This instrument was addressed to the legal representatives of nine extensive UMAs (six private and three ejido).Results: as a result, it was found that the cost-benefit ratio of the private UMAs was 3.78, about twice higher than the ejido ones (2.08). In addition, the highest index reached of 5.72 was obtained, which shows with relative indices that there is considerable potential for future increase in the cost-benefit ratio for UMAs with this activity.Limitations/implications: the results are only applicable to the UMAs under study, the scheme used for their economic evaluation can be applied at the national, regional or local level to know the impact of hunting tourism.Findings/conclusions: it is concluded that the UMAs with hunting activity that were subject of study within the ANP Sierra Fria, are economically profitable and that as a consequence of their management they contribute to the conservation of the environment and benefit the surrounding rural communities.
