Recreational benefits of wetlands: a survey on the Dal Lake in Jammu and Kashmir of India

Abstract

PurposeA wetland is a place of tourist attraction, and tourism values play a key role in economic development. Among various services provided by a wetland, recreational services are increasingly valuable in the tourism sector. This paper aims to unfold the potential recreational values of the Dal Lake in Jammu and Kashmir, India.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses individual travel cost methods (TCMs) and assesses its impact on regional development in terms of income and employment generation. A sample of 200 tourists is selected through an on-site survey on Dal Lake, and the demand for recreational visits and its value is estimated by employing the truncated Poisson regression model (TPRM) and un-truncated Poisson regression model (UTPRM). The consumers' surplus is estimated and tourists' benefit to visiting the wetland is explored.FindingsOn average, estimated consumers' surplus per visitor is Rs 6,250 (US$96.15) and Rs 25,000 (US$384.61) from respective models. The annual total recreational value of the lake is accounted for Rs 1713m (US$ 26m). This high consumer surplus (CS) and recreational values of the lake indicate large demand for its recreational facilities.Originality/valueThe study is based on primary data and thus, is original. The paper has implications for the policymakers to formulate sustainable management plans for the proper use of Dal Lake and tourism development.

Estimating the recreational use value of Tis-Abay Waterfall in the upstream of the Blue Nile River, North-West Ethiopia

“…The total travel cost, which comprises transportation, accommodation, and opportunity costs of time, is the fundamental explanatory variable in our ZTP model, as the model's foundation relies on the hypothesized relationship between trip frequency for recreation and travel costs as a proxy for the price of accessing the site ( Haab and McConnell, 2002 ). As hypothesized, the travel cost coefficient estimate is significant and negative, indicating an inverse relationship with the count of recreation trips ( Blayac et al, 2012 ; Alam and Hossain, 2017 ; Bigirwa et al, 2021 ; Shah and Islam, 2021 ). An indirect relationship between travel cost and trip frequency is in line with the quantity demanded and price relationships in the basic theory of consumer behavior ( Varian, 2014 ), which implies a higher travel cost results in a lower level of trips for recreation and vice versa ( Blayac et al, 2012 ; Bigirwa et al, 2021 ).…”

“… Poor and Smith (2004) and several other subsequent studies have shown the cost of recreation given by the travel cost estimate is inversely related to the demand for recreation. Thus, its sign is expected to be negative and significant ( Poor and Smith, 2004 ; Blayac et al, 2012 ; Alam and Hossain, 2017 ; Bigirwa et al, 2021 ; Shah and Islam, 2021 ).…”

Valuation and effective management of the Dal Lake's diverse ecosystem using choice experiment method

“…The total catchment area of Dal Lake is about 317 sq. Km and can be divided into five sub‐catchments, namely: (i) Dachigam; (ii) Telbal; (iii) Lake Hill Side; (iv) Srinagar North; and (v) Srinagar City (Trisal, 1992; Shah, 2012). Among all these sub‐catchments, Dachigam is the largest in the area (145 × 10 6 m 2 ), including Dachigam Game Reserve, which is interwoven with forests and ground cover.…”

“…A diverse range of valuation methods has been applied to value wetland services (Brander et al, 2006). These include the contingent valuation method (Siew et al, 2015; Ndebele & Forgie, 2017; Vidal Gimenez & Ruiz Mas, 2020; Eregae et al, 2021; Yavari et al, 2021), travel cost method (Musamba et al, 2012; Ghermandi, 2018; Shah & Islam, 2021), both contingent valuation and travel cost methods (Vidal Gimenez & Ruiz Mas, 2020; Alora & Nandagiri, 2015), choice experiment method (Dias & Belcher, 2015; Tan et al, 2018; Getnet & Taw, 2021) and benefits transfer method (Zhou et al, 2020; Badamfirooz et al, 2021) among others. Again, many studies have estimated only one out of many possible wetland attributes, like wetland biodiversity, and others have estimated more than one or the total economic value of wetland ecosystems.…”

Economic Valuation of Lake Tana: A Recreational Use Value Estimation through the Travel Cost Method

“…According to Poor and Smith [75] and a number of other, later studies, the demand for recreation is inversely related to recreation costs, as indicated by the travel cost estimate. Consequently, its sign is anticipated to be negative and significant [25,55,[75][76][77].…”