Deriving leisure time values for visitors to urban sports centres

Abstract

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.