A refined method for estimating recreation benefits

Abstract

Previous methods for estimating the benefits of recreation have neglected interdependence of the consumer's and the producer's surplus. The proposed method is a first attempt to evaluate the benefits of a large number of sites simultaneously, namely 50 recreation sites in Illinois. The method introduces two corrections in the travel cost method in order to account for new dimensions on the consumer and the producer sides. The first correction deals with the provision of recreation opportunities at an efficient level, while the second correction takes into consideration distance to the site (accessibility) and the physical attributes of the site (attraction). Applying linear programming, a new theoretical distribution of attendance is obtained and a new benefit figure calculated. Both benefit figures, the “cost efficiency” correction and accessibility/attraction, are averaged, and a new benefit level is calculated for each site.

Key words:

• Travel cost method
• linear programming
• economic efficiency
• user's cost
• attraction index
• attendance