Recreation Demand Research Articles

Benefits of clearing forest plantations to restore nature? Evidence from a discrete choice experiment in Flanders, Belgium

To ensure the long-term survival of its most valuable and threatened habitats, the European Union (EU) is committing its Member States to develop a network of protected areas. Flanders (northern Belgium) is a highly urbanised region, where natural environments are scarce. Policy-makers are converting existing forest plantations (mostly former coniferous plantations) into natural areas to comply with the EU requirements about nature restoration and satisfy the growing demand for recreation and amenity spaces.The conversion of forest plantations into higher value nature, however, sometimes meets public opposition because it often involves clearcuts and landscape modification. Regional planning authorities are looking for case studies demonstrating which type of nature restoration is valued and thus supported by citizens. Past valuation studies show that personal, site-specific and spatial characteristics influence preferences. However, little is known about the relative importance of such factors.We conduct a discrete choice experiment to investigate preferences for nature restoration scenarios that involve forest conversion. A mixed logit and a latent class model are estimated and the influence of socio-demographic characteristics is explored. Willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates are elicited. Though people generally prefer the forest habitat type, our results suggest that public support exists for converting forest plantations if this contributes to increasing landscape diversity and species richness. Based on our findings, we recommend small scale cuts. This in order to gently open the landscape, assist the natural regeneration process and help current species adapt to that landscape modification.

Heterogeneity and the fragility of the first best: Putting the “micro” in bioeconomic models of recreational resources

We bridge the non-market microeconomic recreational demand and bioeconomic modeling literatures by constructing a dynamic model to guide optimal management of recreational fisheries. Our model incorporates multiple forms of angler heterogeneity and directly models feedbacks between policy instruments and angler behavior rather than dictating behavior as a social planner. This approach highlights the importance of distinct forms of heterogeneity for price and technology based management. We show that management with a price instrument charged per unit fish mortality or a differentiated charge per trip, an input to fish mortality, fully internalizes the dynamic stock externality when the manager observes agent heterogeneity in stock impacts, but is naïve to heterogeneity in preferences. Unobserved heterogeneity in stock impacts leads to welfare loss that increases with the variance of unobserved stock impacts. When the manager uses technology constraints to manage the fishery, understanding heterogeneity in preference, price, and stock impacts leads to greater social welfare, and understanding all sources of heterogeneity is necessary to optimally manage the resource. Nevertheless, technology based management can never replicate the first best. Explicit incorporation of heterogeneity and behavior enables us to show exactly where welfare is lost.

Economic Value of Instream Flow for Non-Commercial Whitewater Boating Using Recreation Demand and Contingent Valuation Methods

Whitewater river kayaking and river rafting require adequate instream flows that are often adversely affected by upstream water diversions. However, there are very few studies in the USA of the economic value of instream flow to inform environmental managers. This study estimates the economic value of instream flow to non-commercial kayakers derived using a Travel Cost Method recreation demand model and Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), a type of Contingent Behavior Method (CBM). Data were obtained from a visitor survey administered along the Poudre River in Colorado. In the dichotomous choice CVM willingness to pay (WTP) question, visitors were asked if they would still visit the river if the cost of their trip was $Y higher, and the level of $Y was varied across the sample. The CVM yielded an estimate of WTP that was sensitive to flows ranging from $55 per person per day at 300 Cubic Feet per Second (CFS) to a maximum $97 per person per day at flows of 1900 CFS. The recreation demand model estimated a boater's number of trips per season. We found the number of trips taken was also sensitive to flow, ranging from as little as 1.63 trips at 300 CFS to a maximum number of 14 trips over the season at 1900 CFS. Thus, there is consistency between peak benefits per trip and number of trips, respectively. With an average of about 100 non-commercial boaters per day, the maximum marginal values per acre foot averages about $220. This value exceeds irrigation water values in this area of Colorado.

A choice experiment application to estimate willingness to pay for controlling excessive recreational fishing demand at the Sundays River Estuary, South Africa

The Sundays River Estuary, situated in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, has excessive recreational demand for estuarine services, specifically recreational fishing. The estuary has been over-fished, putting its sustainability at risk. Various management interventions may be required in order to save it, but how is this to be done without reducing welfare? The main aim of this paper is twofold: first, to assess and comprehend the economic value of the estuarine resources at stake; and, second, to propose policy measures to redress the situation (excessive demand, specifically recreational fishing). An application of a choice experiment reveals that the physical size of fish stocks is a very important predictor of recreational choice at the Sundays River Estuary, and it is recommended that demand be curtailed through an increase in the boat license fee for using the estuary of ZAR174 per annum. Keywords : Estuary, demand management, recreational attributes, recreational fishery, choice experiment

Effects of travel cost and participation in recreational activities on national forest visits

In the face of higher travel costs due to rising gasoline prices and scarce budget resources, we explored differences in the impacts of travel costs on recreational demand for visitors participating in various recreational activities. Five individual travel cost models were estimated, one for each of 5 national forests (i.e., Allegheny, Coconino, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie, Ouachita, and Wenatchee). Travel cost had a consistently negative effect on the number of visits (and thus caused losses in aggregate consumer surplus) across all recreational activities and national forests, although the magnitudes of the effects varied significantly. For example, decreased visit numbers (and thus the aggregate loss of consumer surplus) resulting from hypothetical increases in travel costs are greater for non-trail and backpacking-activity participants than for trail and backpacking-activity participants in the Allegheny national forest. This finding implies that increases in funds allocated towards improving non-trail and backpacking-based recreational activities may stem the loss of consumer surplus due to the decline in visits to the Allegheny national forest caused by the increase in travel cost more than similar increases in funds allocated to trail and backpacking-activities. These results are important because many national-forest managers are facing declining visits resulting from the effects of higher gasoline prices on travel costs. Thus, they can use our results in making decisions about allocating scarce budget resources to recreational activities that have the greatest potential to stem the decline in national-forest visits.

Recovering Individual Preferences for Non‐Market Goods: A Collective Travel‐Cost Model

AbstractTraditional recreation demand models do not make a distinction between a household and an individual as the reference decision‐making unit, thus assuming that a family maximizes a single utility function, even if the family consists of different individuals. Such models ignore the possibility of family members' divergent preferences for non‐market goods. This study proposes a novel approach—the collective travel‐cost model (CTCM)—to eliciting individual preferences for a non‐market good, such as a recreation site, by using revealed preference data. This approach accounts for the intra‐household resource allocation and the role of each household member's preferences. We show that the collective travel‐cost model can be applied to estimating a recreation demand model that yields individual welfare estimates appropriate for policy analysis of non‐market goods, such as the willingness to pay to access a recreation site. We find that how resources are distributed within the household reflects significant differences in welfare measures.

Time is of the Essence: Adaptation of Tourism Demand to Climate Change in Europe

This study analyses the potential impact of climate change on EU tourism demand and provides long-term (2100) scenarios accounting for adaptation in terms of holiday duration. Our long-term projections for tourism demand are based on hedonic valuation of climatic conditions combining hotel price information and travel cost estimations. This approach allows us to analyse together the climatic aspect of recreational demand and its travel cost dimension and thus to draw alternative hypotheses regarding the time dimension of tourism demand. We derive alternative scenarios for adaptation of holiday in terms of holiday frequency and duration. We find that the climate dimension plays a significant (economically and statistically) role in explaining hedonic valuations of tourism services and, as a consequence, its variation in the long-term are likely to affect the relative attractiveness of EU regions for recreational demand. In certain cases, most notably the Southern EU Mediterranean countries climate condition in 2100 could under current economic conditions, lower tourism revenues for up to -0.45% of GDP per year. On the contrary, other areas of the EU, most notably Northern European countries would gain from altered climate conditions, although these gains would be relatively more modest, reaching up to 0.32% of GDP on an annual basis. Overall our results suggest that the change in holiday duration appears to be more beneficial than the change in the frequency of holidays in view of mitigating the cost of climate change for the tourism sector. These two time dimensions of adaptation are likely to be conditioned by broader societal and institutional factors, however.

Recreation Demands of Customers in Thermal Tourism Establishments: Case of Balikesir Province

Balikesir ilinde bulunan termal otellerde konaklayan musterilerin rekreasyon talebinin olculmesidir. Termal tesislerde kalan musterilerin bos zamanlarini degerlendirmeye yonelik faaliyetlerin planlanmasi ve gelistirilmesi ile ilgili tespitler ortaya konmustur. Arastirmanin evrenini, 2013 yilinin Eylul ve Aralik aylarinda Balikesir ve cevresinde bulunan termal otellerin musterileri olusturmustur. Orneklemi ise Balikesir ilindeki Asya Pamukcu Otelde bulunan, 400 musteriye uygulanmistir. Arastirmada, bos zaman faaliyetlerini degerlendirmeye yonelik sorulari iceren, arastirmaci tarafindan uzman gorusleri alinarak gelistirilen ve test tekrar test yontemi ile olusturulan “Musterilerin Rekreasyon Talebini Belirleme Anketi‟‟ uygulanmistir. Arastirma sonucunda elde edilen veriler, SPSS.17 programi ile cozumlenmistir. Mevcut verilerin analizinde, frekans analizi uygulanmistir. Arastirmada agirlikli olarak Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir gibi cevre illerden musteri potansiyeline sahip oldugu, musterilerin rekreatif unsurlardan eglence agirlikli olan uygulamalari tercih ettigi bilgiye dayali uygulamalari tercih etmedigi goruluyor. Termal tesisleri eglenceli ve merak istegi uyandirdigi icin tercih edenler agirlikta olmakla birlikte bu tesislerde bos zamani degerlendirme konusunda musterilerin sikinti cektigi gozlemlenmistir. Celik (2001); “Termal Turizm Isletmelerinin Yapisi Isleyisi ve Musterilerin Rekreasyon Talebi Sandikli Hudai Kaplicasi Modeli” adli tezde bos zamani degerlendirmek sorunu ortaya cikmistir. Bu calisma ile paralellik gostermektedir. Yine bu konuya yonelik yapilan Ozturk (1999); “Turistlerin Turkiye‟yi Ilk ve Birden Fazla Ziyaret Etme Durumlarinin Bazi Sosyo-Ekonomik Faktorler ile Seyahat Ozelliklerine Gore Degisimin Analizi” adli calismada katilimcilarin konaklama amacindaki nedeni rekreatif unsurlarin bu otellerde genis amacli olmasindandir sonucu ortaya cikmistir. Arastirma sonucunda, musterilerin bos zamanlarini degerlendirmeye yonelik faaliyetlerin yetersiz oldugu anlasilmistir. Termal musterilerin, rekreatif unsurlari termal tesislerde gormek istedigi bu calisma sonucunda anlasilan bir sonuctur

The Opportunity Cost of Travel Time as a Noisy Wage Fraction

AbstractFew issues are more important to welfare estimation with recreation demand models than the specification of the opportunity cost of travel time. The two most common approaches to specifying this cost treat it as a fixed fraction of the recreationist's wage, and either estimate the fraction (done infrequently) or assume it takes some value (done commonly), with references to results from the commute time literature used to justify the latter. However, these approaches lack firm conceptual rationales, and the consequences of using them are not fully understood. Recognizing that information limitations often preclude more general approaches, we use a joint recreation travel‐labor supply model to show that under relatively modest assumptions the opportunity cost of travel time can be expressed as a wage fraction with noise. This formulation is straightforward to implement as part of random parameters‐based recreation demand models. We then evaluate the welfare consequences of using the two approaches noted above, which are special cases of the noisy wage fraction specification. Our results suggest that the more critical restriction to relax in opportunity cost of travel time specifications is the absence of noise, rather than the specific level of the wage fraction.

Estimating Endangered Species Interaction Risk With the Kalman Filter

AbstractTo address the tradeoff between biodiversity conservation in marine ecosystems and fishing opportunity, it is important to quantify the risk of endangered species interactions in commercial fisheries. We propose a Kalman filter suitable for rare events to estimate the endangered leatherback turtle take risk in the California drift gillnet fishery in the years 1990–2010, conditional on spatiotemporal factors that affect take rates. Results suggest interaction risk has remained stable, but with substantial variation over the spatiotemporal distribution of effort. Our methods might also apply to recreation demand analysis with rare event risk, or to applications involving irregularly spaced observations, like trade‐level stock market data.

Impact of Oil Price on Forest Recreation Demand

Impact of Oil Price on Forest Recreation Demand

Outdoor recreation – A necessity or a luxury? Estimation of Engel curves for Sweden

Income constitutes one important constraint for the degree of participation in outdoor recreation. The effect of this constraint can be measured by the income elasticity of outdoor recreation demand, which is of policy interest when the distribution of recreation opportunities across socioeconomic groups is a concern. This study investigated income elasticity of expenditures for three types of outdoor recreation in Sweden, at the individual level: outdoor recreation as an aggregated composite good, outdoor recreation close to home (less than 100km away from the permanent residence), and hunting. The findings indicated that outdoor recreation as a composite is a luxury good with elasticity in excess of unity (i.e. a relative increase in income will lead to a greater relative increase in demand). The elasticities of the specific activities were found to be lower. Outdoor recreation close to home was characterized as a necessity with elasticity less than unity (i.e. a relative increase in income will lead to a smaller relative increase in demand). The results further suggested that an increase in income could lead to either a decrease or an increase in the demand for hunting, indicating that hunting might be an inferior good or possibly a necessity. Management implicationsBased on data from national surveys in Sweden, this paper explores the relationship between income and demand for different types of outdoor recreation activities. The analysis reveals that:•The total demand for outdoor recreation opportunities can be expected to increase with increasing income levels in society. An increase in total demand does, however, not imply that demand for all types of outdoor recreation will increase simultaneously.•The relationship between income and outdoor recreation demand differs among various types of recreation activities. Outdoor recreation close to home and hunting provided two examples of such diverging patterns in this paper. This, in turn, leads to different policy implications.•Policy measures should, therefore, be adapted to the specific type of outdoor recreation under consideration.•Managers need to be aware of the underlying factors affecting demand, such as socioeconomic characteristics, substitutability, motivations and different types of constraints.•Future analysis should consider also the following factors potentially affecting outdoor recreation demand:- The distinction between recreation enjoyed during overnight trips (i.e. tourism related), as opposed to day based recreation activities where income may be less important.- The time available for outdoor recreation and the family situation.- Recreational activities must be regarded within the regulatory national framework. For example hunting in Sweden is guided by bag limits, reduced mobility because of limited access to specific hunting grounds, and specific national management of hunting opportunities.

A recreation demand model of the North Carolina for-hire fishery: a comparison of primary and secondary purpose anglers

In this article, we estimate a single trip random utility model for primary purpose and secondary purpose anglers with data from a field survey of charter and head-boat passengers in North Carolina. We find that primary and secondary purpose anglers exhibit significantly different behaviour with regards to cost. However, once costs are weighted for secondary purpose anglers, the value of catch is not statistically different across groups.

Open space planning standards in Australia: in search of origins

While national standards for open space planning have long been subject to criticism, their use is still advocated in a number of Australian state planning guidelines, even if only as a ‘starting point’. This suggests that the British and American origins of open space standards commonly used in Australia are believed by some to have at least a modicum of credibility. This paper seeks to establish documented evidence of the link between Australian standards and their British and American origins and to examine the scientific basis for the latter. It was found to be impossible to establish clear, explicit and documented statements of such links. Furthermore, it was found that, in the case of American standards, the responsible organisation was itself unable to explain their basis and abandoned their use in 1996. In the case of British standards, it is found that they were based on estimated demand for sport in Britain in 1925, have remained substantially unchanged since the 1930s and do not include standards for informal open space. No evidence was found of any efforts to establish Australian standards based on contemporary Australian recreation demand patterns.

Anticipating adaptation: a mechanistic approach for linking policy and stock status to recreational angler behavior

We use techniques from economic recreation demand modeling to develop a mechanistic model of individual recreational fishing behavior and estimate it using license-frame survey data. By consistently integrating individuals’ seasonal decisions of where, whether, and how much to fish, the model generates predictions of aggregate indicators such as angler-days and fishing mortality as phenomena arising from individual behavior. We use the model to simulate alternative future scenarios by altering policy variables or measures of fishing quality, such as catch rates. The mechanistic nature of the model incorporates anglers’ adaptive behavior to these stimuli, generating scenarios that are likely more robust to shifts in the decision context than many commonly used phenomenological models. We utilize the model to examine the sensitivity of total catch and catch per unit effort (CPUE) to changes in fish stocks, revealing substantial nonlinearities in this relationship. We also simulate total fishing trips, participation, CPUE, and total catch for a seasonal fishing permit versus a per-trip fee, finding dramatic differences across the two policies that call into question the wisdom of permit fees as management tools.

Incorporating community and multiple perspectives in the development of acceptable drinking water source protection policy in catchments facing recreation demands

The protection of catchment areas for drinking water quality has become an increasingly disputed issue in Australia and internationally. This is particularly the case in regard to the growing demand for nature based and rural recreation. Currently the policy for the protection of drinking water in Western Australia is to enforce a 2 km exclusion zone with a much larger surrounding area with limited and prescribed access to recreators. The debate between recreators and water management agencies has been lively, culminating in a recent state government enquiry. This paper describes the second phase of a three phase study to develop a methodology for defensible policy formulation which accounts for the points of view of all stakeholders. We examine general community, active recreators and professionals' views on the current policy of catchment protection and five proposed alternatives using a social judgement theory approach. Key attitudinal determinants of the preferences for policies were identified. Overall the recreators did not support the current policy despite strong support from both the general community and the professional group. Nevertheless, it was evident that there was some support by the community for policies that would enable a slight relaxation of current recreational exclusion. It was also evident that there was a significant proportion of the general community who were dissatisfied with current recreational opportunities and that, in future, it may be less easy to police exclusion zones even if current policy is maintained. The potential for future integration of recreational and water source protection is discussed as well as the benefits of community research in understanding policy preferences in this regard.

Using Count Data and Ordered Models in National Forest Recreation Demand Analysis

This research addresses the need to improve our knowledge on the demand for national forests for recreation and offers an in-depth data analysis supported by the complementary use of count data and ordered models. From a policy-making perspective, while count data models enable the estimation of monetary welfare measures, ordered models allow for the wider use of the database and provide a more flexible analysis of data. The main purpose of this article is to analyse the individual forest recreation demand and to derive a measure of its current use value. To allow a more complete analysis of the forest recreation demand structure the econometric approach supplements the use of count data models with ordered category models using data obtained by means of an on-site survey in the Bussaco National Forest (Portugal). Overall, both models reveal that travel cost and substitute prices are important explanatory variables, visits are a normal good and demographic variables seem to have no influence on demand. In particular, estimated price and income elasticities of demand are quite low. Accordingly, it is possible to argue that travel cost (price) in isolation may be expected to have a low impact on visitation levels.

A Recreation Demand Model of the North Carolina For-Hire Fishery

In this paper we measure the recreational economic benefits of the for-hire recreational fishery in the coastal region of North Carolina. We estimate a single trip random utility model for primary purpose and secondary purpose anglers with data from a field survey of charter and head-boat passengers. We find that primary and secondary purpose anglers exhibit significantly different behavior with regards to cost. However, once costs are weighted for secondary purpose anglers the value of catch is not statistically different across groups. For primary purpose anglers, the willingness to pay per trip is between $1800 and $2000 for one additional billfish (per angler), between $55 and $65 for one additional coastal migratory pelagic fish, $39 for one additional mackerel, and the willingness to pay per trip for an additional snapper-grouper is between $61 and $94. The net economic value for a charter boat trip averages $624 per angler per trip, and net economic value for a head boat trip is $102 per angler per trip.

Analysis of Visitors' Cognition of Destination Image and Recreation Demand in National Park

In this study we chose the Taroko National Park as the research site, which is a popular sightseeing park with the characteristics of the natural resources and historic culture. First, the exploratory factor analysis was applied to extract five cognitive, affective, and unique factors of the destination images for the tourists, who visited Taroko National Park. Second, the cluster analysis was employed to identity four clusters among different factors of the destination images. Finally, the travel cost method was adopted to establish Taroko National Park recreation demand model, in order to estimate the recreation demand function by On-Site Poisson estimation model and to measure the differences in recreation benefits of the four destination image clusters. The empirical results of this study are as follows: (1) Among four identified clusters, the multi-purpose image seekers were found to be the most important segment. (2) The four destination image clusters differ significantly in terms of national park demands. (3) The recreation benefits of visiting Taroko National Park ranged between NT $3,684 to 4,139 for every visitor per year. (4) The “landscape attraction clusters” had the higher recreation benefits than other three destination image clusters. This study concluded that administrators of Taroko National Park should pay more attention to the destination image and recreation demand of domestic and international visitors in order to achieve the goals of sustainable development for the national park. Furthermore, attracting primary clusters by way of market segmentation, and the resource maintenance program to protect the natural landscape, ecological resources and recreation quality need to setup. The operating profit gained from recreation and environmental resources management through the entry fees could be invested in the management of Taroko National Park to improve the primary facilities and services, and enhance the ecological quality.

Ecological Settings and State Economies as Factor Inputs in the Provision of Outdoor Recreation

State parks play a substantial role in the provision of outdoor recreation opportunities within the United States. Park operators must make crucial decisions in how they allocate capital expenditures, labor, and parkland to maintain recreation opportunities. Their decisions are influenced, in part, by the ecological characteristics of their state's park system as well as the vitality of their state's economy. In this research, we incorporate the characteristics of states' ecosystems and their local economies into a formal production analysis of the states' park systems from the years 1986 to 2011. Our analysis revealed all three factors of production were positive and inelastic. Expenditures on labor had the largest effect on both park utilization and operational expenditures. Our analysis also found a large degree of variability in the effects of ecological characteristics on both utilization and operating expenditures. Parkland utilization and operational expenditures were more elastic in areas such as Oceania and Mediterranean California relative to other ecological regions. These findings lead us to conclude that state park operators will experience variable levels of difficulty in both accommodating increasing demands for recreation from state parks and maintaining the existing quality of outdoor recreation provided within their system.