Travel Cost Study Research Articles

The economic value of tourism and recreation across a large protected area network

Environmental economists routinely use travel cost methods to value recreational services from protected areas, but a number of limitations remain. First, most travel cost studies focus on a single protected area or a small handful of protected area sites; value estimates that relate to a protected area network across a larger geographic area or jurisdiction are rare. Second, most protected area travel cost studies use on-site sampling techniques that bias value estimates towards those reported by frequent visitors. Values derived from such studies are unlikely to be representative of those held by the broader community, and as such they are of limited utility for strategic land-use planning. We have overcome these limitations to estimate the total value of tourism and recreation for a network of 728 protected areas across 800,000 km2 in New South Wales (NSW) in south-eastern Australia. This is one of the largest studies of its kind undertaken to date, drawing on data from a stratified random phone-survey of more than 62,000 individuals in which interviewers collected detailed information on the number of visits to any and all of the 728 protected areas within NSW. Our study provides new insights into protected area visitation through the use of a random effects ordered logit model, which allows explicit examination of the distribution of recreational value amongst households. Our modelling estimates the value of tourism and recreation services provided by the NSW protected area network at $AUD 3.3 billion per annum. Most of this value accrues to frequent users from within NSW, particularly those from regional areas. The comparative values presented in our study indicate that the recreational services provided by protected areas and other sites can be a similar order of magnitude to, and perhaps even greater than, the extractive uses that are traditionally assigned economic values. It follows that land-use decisions that fail to account for these values are unlikely to optimise societal benefits from land-use allocation.

From supply to demand factors: What are the determinants of attractiveness for outdoor recreation?

The concept of ecosystem services (ES) remains underused in supporting practical decisions in conservation/development plans and programs. One of the most important factors explaining this non-consideration is the lack of spatial information describing the nature-society relationship in environmental and economic analyses. In this paper, we developed a novel method to predict, in spatially explicit terms, the recreation attractiveness potential combining supply and demand factors. Our method is based on the combination and transfer of a Lancasterian function of biophysical aspects and a travel cost model based on agents' sociodemographic characteristics. We further validate the usefulness of the proposed recreation model by using it in the evaluation of a regional park charter pursuing two main objectives: recreational attractiveness and habitat quality (modeled with InVEST). The results demonstrate first that the biophysical context plays a large role in the recreational trip choice and thus should not be ignored in travel cost studies. Second, from a policy guidance perspective, we show that providing spatial information appears particularly critical for ES to be a useful lever for action in day-to-day decision-making.

Optimising recreation services from protected areas – Understanding the role of natural values, built infrastructure and contextual factors

Effective management of recreation within protected areas requires a comprehensive understanding of the drivers of site visitation. To date, large multi-site studies that compare recreation demand for protected areas in response to underlying site attributes are rare, and have generally been restricted to high-profile, high-visitation sites. Our study, undertaken in south-eastern Australia, is the first to use random utility travel cost methods to explore recreational preferences across all sites within a large protected area network. We applied a novel zero-inflation statistical correction to identify the value of recreation demand arising in response to a broad range of site attributes, including protected area size, remoteness, natural values and built infrastructure. We find a strong influence of built infrastructure on recreation demand, but only a subset of the 9 infrastructure types modelled consistently generated recreation demand across the protected areas network. Other infrastructure contributed positively or negatively to tourism demand depending on contextual factors like site remoteness and the availability of recreation substitutes. We discuss the implications for protected area management at both the site- and network- scales, and as well as implications for designing more effective travel cost studies that allow the robust transfer of study findings to other protected area sites.

Valuing urban open space using the travel-cost method and the implications of measurement error

Urbanization has placed pressure on open space within and adjacent to cities. In recent decades, a greater awareness has developed to the fact that individuals derive multiple benefits from urban open space. Given the location, there is often a high opportunity cost to preserving urban open space, thus it is important for both public and private stakeholders to justify such investments. The goals of this study are twofold. First, we use detailed surveys and precise, accessible, mapping methods to demonstrate how travel-cost methods can be applied to the valuation of urban open space. Second, we assess the degree to which typical methods of estimating travel times, and thus travel costs, introduce bias to the estimates of welfare. The site we study is Taylor Mountain Regional Park, a 1100-acre space located immediately adjacent to Santa Rosa, California, which is the largest city (∼170,000 population) in Sonoma County and lies 50 miles north of San Francisco. We estimate that the average per trip access value (consumer surplus) is $13.70. We also demonstrate that typical methods of measuring travel costs significantly understate these welfare measures. Our study provides policy-relevant results and highlights the sensitivity of urban open space travel-cost studies to bias stemming from travel-cost measurement error.

Measuring recreational visitation at U.S. National Parks with crowd-sourced photographs

Land managers rely on visitation data to inform policy and management decisions. However, visitation data is often costly and burdensome to obtain, and provides a limited depth of information. In this paper, we assess the validity of using crowd-sourced, online photographs to infer information about the habits and preferences of recreational visitors by comparing empirical data from the National Park Service to photograph data from the online platform Flickr for 38 National Parks in the western United States. Using multiple regression analysis, we find that the number of photos posted monthly in a park can reliably indicate the number of visitors to a park in a given month. Through additional statistical testing we also find that the home locations of photo-takers, provided voluntarily on an online profile, accurately show the home origins of park visitors. Together, these findings validate a new method for measuring recreational visitation, opening an opportunity for land managers worldwide to track and understand visitation by augmenting current data collection methods with crowd-sourced, online data that is easy and inexpensive to obtain. In addition, it enables future research on how visitation rates change with changes in access, management or infrastructure, weather events, or ecosystem health, and facilitates valuation research, such as travel cost studies.

Site choices in recreational demand: a matter of utility maximization or regret minimization?

This paper compares the Random Regret Minimization and the Random Utility Maximization models for determining recreational choice. The Random Regret approach is based on the idea that, when choosing, individuals aim to minimize their regret – regret being defined as what one experiences when a non-chosen alternative in a choice set performs better than a chosen one in relation to one or more attributes. The Random Regret paradigm, recently developed in transport economics, presents a tractable, regret-based alternative to the dominant choice paradigm based on Random Utility. Using data from a travel cost study exploring factors that influence kayakers’ site-choice decisions in the Republic of Ireland, we estimate both the traditional Random Utility multinomial logit model (RU-MNL) and the Random Regret multinomial logit model (RR-MNL) to gain more insights into site choice decisions. We further explore whether choices are driven by a utility maximization or a regret minimization paradigm by running a binary logit model to examine the likelihood of the two decision choice paradigms using site visits and respondents characteristics as explanatory variables. In addition to being one of the first studies to apply the RR-MNL to an environmental good, this paper also represents the first application of the RR-MNL to compute the Logsum to test and strengthen conclusions on welfare impacts of potential alternative policy scenarios.

Estimating Ricardian Models with Panel Data

Many non-market valuation models, such as the Ricardian model, have been estimated using cross sectional methods with a single year of data. Although multiple years of data should increase the robustness of such methods, repeated cross sections suggest the results are not stable. We argue that repeated cross sections do not properly specify the model. Panel methods that correctly specify the Ricardian model are stable over time. The results suggest that many cross sectional methods including hedonic studies and travel cost studies could be enhanced using panel data.

A travel cost study to estimate recreational value for a bird refuge at Lake Manyas, Turkey

This paper investigates the recreational economic value of bird watching in the Kuşcenneti National Park (KNP) at Lake Manyas, one of the Ramsar sites of Turkey and an important endangered species habitat. The lake and KNP provide considerable benefits for the region, although they have faced many environmental conflicts due to diverse stakeholders’ needs. An economic valuation for the benefits provided by the KNP is important data for stakeholders and local authorities. The travel cost method is used to estimate recreational demand for the KNP. The recreational value of the KNP is 103,320,074 USD annually. Results shed light on important policy issues and help to resolve conflicts among stakeholders. This calculated value is considerably higher than the annual investment and operation expenditures of the KNP. Sustainability of the important species around the lake could be achieved if the region's inhabitants are compensated by KNP visitors.

The Economic Impact of Sea-level Rise on Nonmarket Lands in Singapore

Sea-level rise, as a result of climate change, will likely inflict considerable economic consequences on coastal regions, particularly low-lying island states like Singapore. Although the literature has addressed the vulnerability of developed coastal lands, this is the first economic study to address nonmarket lands, such as beaches, marshes and mangrove estuaries. This travel cost and contingent valuation study reveals that consumers in Singapore attach considerable value to beaches. The contingent valuation study also attached high values to marshes and mangroves but this result was not supported by the travel cost study. Although protecting nonmarket land uses from sea-level rise is expensive, the study shows that at least highly valued resources, such as Singapore's popular beaches, should be protected.

Economic Valuation for Sustainable Development in the Swedish Coastal Zone

The Swedish coastal zone is a scene of conflicting interests about various goods and services provided by nature. Open-access conditions and the public nature of many services increase the difficulty in resolving these conflicts. "Sustainability" is a vague but widely accepted guideline for finding reasonable trade-offs between different interests. The UN view of sustainable development suggests that coastal zone management should aim at a sustainable ecological, economic, and social-cultural development. Looking closer at economic sustainability, it is observed that economic analyses about whether changes in society imply a gain or a loss should take into account the economic value of the environment. Methods used for making such economic valuation in the context of the Swedish coastal zone are briefly reviewed. It is noted that the property rights context matters for the results of a valuation study. This general background is followed by a concise presentation of the design and results of four valuation studies on Swedish coastal zone issues. One study is on the economic value of an improved bathing water quality in the Stockholm archipelago. The other studies are a travel cost study about the economic value of improved recreational fisheries in the Stockholm archipelago, a replacement cost study on the value of restoring habitats for sea trout, and a choice experiment study on the economic value of improved water quality along the Swedish westcoast.

Wildfire effects on hiking and biking demand in New Mexico: a travel cost study

We use a travel cost model to test the effects of wild and prescribed fire on visitation by hikers and mountain bikers in New Mexico. Our results indicate that net benefits for mountain bikers is $150 per trip and that they take an average of 6.2 trips per year. Hikers take 2.8 trips per year with individual net benefits per trip of $130. Both hikers' and mountain bikers' demand functions react adversely to prescribed burning. Net benefits for both groups fall as areas recover from prescribed burns. Because both visitation and annual recreation benefits decrease to these two types of visitors, this gives rise to multiple use costs associated with prescribed burning. With respect to wildfire, hikers and mountain bikers both exhibit decreased visitation as areas recover from wildfires, however, only hikers indicate an increase in per trip net benefits. Bikers' demand effectively drops to zero. These results differ from previous findings in the literature and have implications for efficient implementation of the National Fire Plan and whether prescribed burning is a cost effective tool for multiple use management of National Forests. Specifically, that fire and recreation managers cannot expect recreation users to react similarly to fire across recreation activities, or different geographic regions. What is cost effective in one region may not be so in another.

A Travel Cost Study of Duck Hunting in the Upper South East of South Australia

Wetlands in the Upper South East (USE) of South Australia yield a range of values to their owners and to the wider community. One such value is that generated by duck hunting in the region. Wetland owners receive private benefits from hunting fees, while hunters gain a non-monetary consumers' surplus. These non-monetary benefits received by duck hunters through their enjoyment of hunting in wetlands are the primary focus of this paper. In order to estimate these values, a 'travel cost' survey of duck hunters participating in an organised shoot held by Wetlands and Wildlife in February 2000 was undertaken. The extent of the private recreation benefits so estimated is assessed in terms of their potential to stimulate the provision of wetlands for both private and social benefits.

Deriving leisure time values for visitors to urban sports centres

Since the mid 1960s, the demand for recreational resources has been increasingly subjected to the rigours of economic evaluation. In the case of travel cost studies, an important variable is the amount of leisure time visitors incur when journeying to a site. The aim of this paper is to show empirically that the value of the travel time incurred by individuals consuming localized recreation activity, for example at a sports centre, can be much lower than many commentators assume. If exaggerated time values are used as extra-sample information for evaluations of urban facilities, not only may the effectiveness of particular pricing policies be compromised but also the user benefits estimated for such facilities may be overstated.

Log Transformation Bias in Estimating Travel Cost Models

With the general acceptance of the travel cost method for estimating the demand for and value of recreation sites, increasing attention is being directed to the improvement of empirical methods in order to reduce errors in travel cost model estimation. Research has focused particularly upon how the choice of functional form (Ziemer, et al. 1980; Strong 1983; Smith 1975; Vaughan, et al. 1982; Sutherland 1982) and estimation methods (Bowes and Loomis 1980) influence the results of travel cost studies.

Alternative Ways to Measure Recreation Values by the Travel Cost Method

The travel cost method is widely used for estimating the economic value of outdoor recreation services. Much early research was empirical applications of the Hotelling-Clawson model (Brown, Singh, Castle; Clawson; Clawson and Knetsch; Trice and Wood). Recently, model specification and functional form problems have attracted greater attention (Allen, Stevens, Barrett; Burt and Brewer; Cesario and Knetsch; Gum and Martin; Smith 1975b; Ziemer, Musser, Hill). A major focus of attention is estimating the recreation participation equation (often called step one of the travel cost method). It measures participation in an activity based on travel costs and other explanatory variables. However, misspecification of this equation is only one possible source of inaccuracy. The procedure for estimating consumer surplus once the participation equation has been derived also can affect the values derived from recreation demand analysis. This paper considers how alternative ways to estimate economic value from participation equations can affect travel cost study results. Empirical study of the economic value of the St. Lawrence River-eastern Lake Ontario bass fishery in New York illustrates the point. The underlying theory of the travel cost method comes from neoclassical demand theory. Demand equations are derived for an outdoor recreation activity by observing how individuals respond to various costs of travel to use the resource. The net economic value (NEV) of the resource in its current use is the amount that users would be willing to pay in excess of their actual expenditures. This is the sum of the users' consumer surplus (Knetsch, Smith 1975a). Assuming that any net user benefits are associated with the recreation site itself rather than the trip, this value represents the net economic value of the recreation resource (Brown, Singh, Castle; Dwyer, Kelly, Bowes). Empirical applications of the travel cost method use visitation data from points of origin at various distances from the site. The traditional approach uses distance zones as units of observation. The quantity variable (visitation rate) is the expected participation rate for a representative individual from a particular origin zone.' Observations of individuals rather than zone averages generally will lead to efficiency gains in estimating the travel cost coefficient and other parameters (Brown and Nawas). The second step is to derive the implied demand for and economic value of the resource from the participation equation. Several methods have been used. One calculates the site's economic value as the area under an aggregate demand curve for the site (Cesario and Knetsch; Grubb and Goodwin; Knetsch, Brown, Hansen). Another method uses the participation equation to derive a demand curve and economic value for the site from each origin. Then aggregation across all origins measures the site's total economic value (McConnell and Norton). This study compares these methods for estimating recreation demand curves and economic value.