The recreational valuation of a natural forest park using travel cost method in Iran

Abstract

© iForest -Biogeosciences and Forestry IntroductionForests feature so many values. They act as good reservoir for both wildlife and forest biodiversity among other benefits (Mugambi et al. 2006). Recreation in natural environments has been extensively increased during recent decades, following the increasing rate of the city residence process. Thus, the recreational activities now play a vital role in the public lifestyle. Therefore, equipping the natural recreational venues together with optimizing their usage has been regarded as one of the important duties of the local management.The (Oladi 2005). Nevertheless, the value and inclination of the recreational site's usage would be obtained using some worldwide evaluation methods. Regarding the other applications of the forested sites, it is of a great concern that the concept of forest recreational centres be overcome by the assumption of the land's agricultural or timber productivity or creation of other alternative land uses. Hence, evaluation of recreational sites is one of the tasks that would lead the managers to the economic value of these regions and is due to persuade them to equip the sites. By assessment of forest parks and recreational areas which comes up to presenting the exact and accurate information and statistics, the potential land use change of the parks into other land uses can finally be avoided. Existence of several methods of evaluating the recreational values would clarify the importance of performing such a process. One method for estimating some of the non-market benefits is the Travel Cost Method (hereafter called TCM). This tool estimates ecotourism benefits of a protected area based upon observed travel expenses by visitors to the area (Mankhaus & Lober 1996).Various methods have been proposed so far to evaluate recreational regions and quantify the willingness to pay. The application of methods depends on the regional condition and the factors each method apply. Hotelling 1947 stated that the highest travel cost is considered to be the recreational value. Unlike the prices for private goods in efficient markets, the price of some goods, such as ecotourism, if measured only by direct costs such as entrance fees to parks, may not reflect the degree to which these goods are valued. This inaccurate pricing can result in lost revenue or underestimation of the importance of the good. One solution to this problem is to estimate visitors' willingness to pay for the good by using TCM. This model provides an estimate of the benefit individuals received from visiting a site by observing their travel-related expenses (Clawson & Knetsch 1966, Krutilla & Fisher 1975, Dixon & Sherman 1991, Freeman 1993).Clawson's study (1959) was carried out on the estimation of the relationship between the visitors and their residential area's distance from the park. Nowadays, this method is one of the most common ways of evaluating the recreational values, well-known as the TCM, which has been widely used for valuing nature-based recreation (Brown & Mendelsohn...

Identifying the determining factors of recreation demand in Kongar Lake of South Sumatera: An individual travel cost approach

“…This means that if travel costs increase by 100,000, it will decrease recreation demand by 0.15%. The higher travel costs will be the main consideration for tourists, the higher the cost it will further reduce the individual's desire for traveling, as also stated by Pirikiya et al (2016);and Sohrabi Saraj et al (2009). One variable also has a sign of a negative coefficient and the significant effect of this is the distance variable, and with a coefficient value of -0.832026, means that if distance increased by one kilometer, it would decrease recreation demand by 0.83% with the assumption of ceteris paribus, meaning that the further distance traveled to the lake, the demand for recreation will decrease.…”

“…;Fleming & Cook (2008); Limaei, Ghesmati, Rashidi, & Yamini (2014);Pirikiya et al (2016);Shrestha, Stein, & Clark (2007);Sohrabi Saraj et al (2009); and…”

An assessment of ecosystem services of Corbett Tiger Reserve, India

“…The individual approach to travel cost method (TCM) was opted to estimate the worth of CTR for recreational purposes (Brown and Nawas 1973;Dobbs 1993;Sohrabi et al 2009). TCM assumes that the value of the site or its recreational services is reflected in how much people are willing to pay to reach it.…”