Recreational benefits from a marine protected area: A travel cost analysis of Lundy

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been proposed in many countries as a means of conserving parts of the marine environment. In some cases, MPAs may also confer recreational benefits. In this paper, a travel cost model is used to estimate the non-market recreational benefits arising from the Lundy Island Marine Nature Reserve (MNR). The estimated mean consumer surplus for visiting Lundy was found to range from £359 to £574 per trip. The designation of No Take Zone (NTZ) has also contributed to higher consumer surplus values. This result provides a strong economic justification for the designation of MPAs for recreational as well as conservation purposes.     

Valuing Consumer Surplus for the Beach Resources at Ko Chang National Marine Park in Thailand

This paper presents recreation trip demand models from three beaches administrated by the Ko Chang National Marine Park in Thailand. In specific, we apply Poisson (POI) and negative binomial (NB) count data models to estimate consumer surplus (CS) attributed to tourism development. An onsite stratified random sample of 409 beach visitors was administrated along the shorelines of the marine park. The results show that the estimated CS of a Thai visitor is $244 per trip and $256 per trip, respectively, under POI and NB models. In contrast, the CS per trip of a foreign visitor is double that of the Thai visitor's. As all the potential beach visitors’ CS counted, it suggests that the beaches along the Ko Chang's coastline are highly valuable public resources. As a result, several important policy-making comments regarding the coastal park management are addressed.     

The Recreational Value of Rohtas Fort,Pakistan

This study evaluates the use value of Rohtas Fort, in province Punjab (Pakistan). Employing the Individual Travel Cost Method, the study estimated the total annual consumer surplus as US$ 8.71 million and the total recreational value as US$ 11.70 million (which is 0.05% of total GDP of Pakistan in the year 2013). The major influencing factors of visitation frequency were observed as travel cost, household income, age, household size, education and sex. Visitors were highly satisfied from the museum as against the waste disposal services. Cleanliness is a major problem faced by visitors with the highest priority index value of 0.88. Based on high willingness to pay for the entrance fee, the authority can increase the entrance fee which will add to the revenue generation for the Fort and ultimately the authority would have resources for renovation/maintenance projects. The authority should arrange the appropriate waste disposal system for the Fort.     

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.     

Understanding Differences in Nonmarket Valuation by Angler Specialization Level

Using the concept of recreation specialization, we would expect willingness-to-pay (WTP) differences among participant sub-groups as an expression of increasing commitment to their activity. To expand understanding of predictable angler sub-group differences in economic valuation, a two-stage process was used to investigate WTP differences among heterogeneous sub-groups. Cluster analysis was used with a three dimensional specialization model. A zero truncated binomial regression model was applied to estimate anglers' consumer surplus values per trip. Results supported the expectation that anglers in each group placed a different value on the social benefits associated with fishing and their concerns for possible resource loss.     

ITCM在我国游憩价值评估中的应用及改进

旅行费用法(TCM)是当今世界上普遍用来进行非市场资源,特别是对环境资源(包括旅游娱乐资源和各类游憩活动)经济价值评估的方法.该方法主要分为区域旅行费用法(ZTCM)和个人旅行费用法(ITCM).这种在国外应用于资源价值评估的常规方法,在直接引入我国用于旅游资源价值评估研究中表现出一定的局限性.本文在分析旅行费用法用于我国游憩资源价值评估存在的问题的基础上,针对中国旅游者出行方式的特点,应用改进的ITCM模型测算大连星海公园的游憩价值.结果表明,2007年大连星海公园的游憩价值为16.085亿元.     

中国城市居民旅游需求函数的实证研究

旅游需求问题是旅游研究的核心问题之一,中国居民旅游需求函数是旅游需求问题研究的基础,旅行成本模型广泛地被用于估计居民旅游需求函数。文章基于停留时间内生的旅行成本模型,在考虑游客动态出游行为的情形下,使用中国39个城市2000~2007年间国内旅游抽样调查数据,采用广义矩估计方法对中国居民旅游需求函数进行了估计。研究表明,旅行成本、时间成本和居民收入是影响居民旅游需求的关键因素;旅游需求收入弹性的绝对值大于旅行成本弹性的绝对值,城市旅游产业发展的居民收入激励政策较之于成本竞争策略更有效;旅游需求的旅行成本弹性和时间成本弹性差异显著,减少旅行成本政策较之于缩短旅行时间政策更能提高城市的旅游收入;旅游需求和停留时间的影响因素存在异同,扩大旅游需求和延长停留时间的选择面临"两难",但也可"两顾"。     

Determinants of demand for recreational walking trails in Ireland

The purpose of this work is to explore how recreational walkers' marginal willingness to pay for, or travel to, Irish trails is affected by trail attributes. We use principal components data reduction, z-score data normalization, and OLS regression analyses on two stated preference datasets covering 302 Irish and foreign visitors, and recreational experts, across 15 sites in Ireland between 2005 and 2010. Findings reveal that endowment and infrastructure attributes emerge as primary influences affecting demand. In particular, flat or valley-endowed trails, and infrastructure, including signage, amenities, and maps or leaflets positively affect demand. Additionally, robustness checks suggest farmer access agreements may also be important. On the other hand, we find that mountain or hill, forest, and coastal or lake trails, as well as income, seem to be negatively associated with demand. Finally, we are able to use these in-sample results to extrapolate demand for a set of new relatively unimproved trails in an out-of-sample demand prediction exercise.     

Tourists’ travel time values using discrete choice models: the recreational value of the Teide National Park

Abstract

The value of travel time is one of the most important factors in recreation demand models. Traditionally, the most common approach for its calculation has been the use of different proportions of the wage rate; however, criticisms of this method abound because in a recreational trip the relevant measure is the opportunity cost of leisure time rather than work time. In this paper, we adopt a novel approach in the literature using discrete choice models based on short-term decisions and independent of the labor market. We obtain the value of travel time through the trade-off between time and money considered by the tourist visitors when choosing the transport mode and we present the first calculation of the recreational value of the Teide National Park. Specifically, using a Revealed Preference survey of 801 park visitors, we estimate Mixed Logit models accounting for random preference heterogeneity, derive travel time values and incorporate them into a Zonal Travel Cost Method. This approach allows us to estimate different time values depending on transport mode and stage of the trip and shows that the use of discrete choice models instead of the wage rate approach has a strong impact on the recreational value calculated.     

Incidental Trips and Aquarium Benefits

This recreation demand study empirically tests the complementary nature of destination travel and single-day trips. Day-trips to North Carolina aquariums are treated as incidental to the primary destination trips to the North Carolina coast. Visitors would not have taken day-trips if the primary purposes of the vacation trips had not been taken first. Applying the individual travel cost method, a demand function is estimated with Poisson regression. The consumer surplus is $21.73 per aquarium trip.     

The ‘magic of filter’ effect: Examining value co-destruction of social media photos in destination marketing

Excessive filter processing of social media photos may cause viewers to question the authenticity of the photos. From the value co-destruction perspective, this research examines the effect of photo filtering on consumer perceptions. Study 1 ran content analysis of 2035 social media user posts and identified that destination marketing failure caused by filtered photos is a process involving tourists' negative emotions and multi-stakeholder (including platform, travel blogger, and destination) value co-destruction, represented by a chain relationship mechanism of “stimulation of filtered photos→ negative emotions of tourists→ failure of destination marketing.” Study 2 applied an experimental design and found that filtered photos have a significant effect on tourists' negative emotions, which play a complete mediating role in the relationship between filtered photos and value co-destruction of destination marketing. Additionally, the moderating effect of tourists’ aesthetic and authenticity pursuit in the influence mechanism was partially verified. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

How feasible is coastal management? A social benefit analysis of a coastal destination in SW Spain

Very few assessments of the beach recreational experience value have been made in Spain. This is both surprising and discouraging considering the importance of sun-and-sand tourism to the country. The present study applies the Travel Cost Method (TCM) to assess the non-market user value of three Atlantic beaches in southern Spain. The results reveal that there are statistically significant differences in visitor type by season and by beach. Calculations show that the socioeconomic benefits generated by one hectare of any of the studied beaches during the high season are one order of magnitude greater than the average annual amount of capital invested in coastal management projects and actions. It is apparent that expenditure on management strategies for the beaches of Cadiz is justified. Policy-makers should recognise that the consumer surplus is an important component of economic value because it represents a measure of social benefits rather than on-site expenditures alone.     

Analysis of Time Pressure and Value Perception: An Exploratory Study of Consumer Travel Fair

The consumer travel fair is a well-known vacation marketing event in Singapore. Travel product/package promotions at the Singapore travel fair are only available for 3 days. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between time pressure and consumer value of travel fair products through their perceptions of scarcity, price, and quality. These constructs were examined using two types of mediation models. A random sample survey of 251 travel fair visitors were collected to verify the conceptual model proposed to integrate these constructs. The study found the mediated relationship between time pressure and consumer value was significant. Additionally, the signs for the total indirect effects were consistent with the proposed mediation models. The results are important from managerial and personal selling perspectives.     

Economic value of recreational fishing in Moreton Bay and the potential impact of the marine park rezoning

In 2009, the area of the Moreton Bay Marine Park was increased from 0.5 per cent of the Bay area to 16 per cent. During the planning process, opposition by commercial and recreational fishers alike was raised, arguing that loss of fishing grounds would lead to substantial loss in economic benefits. The commercial sector was compensated through a buyback of fishing effort, but the recreational sector received no compensation. In this paper, we develop a travel cost model to estimate the potential economic impact on the recreational sector from the marine park rezoning. The results suggest that, counter to initial claims, non-market recreational fishing benefits may have increased by between $1.3m and $2.5m a year, with a current total annual value of around $20m.     

A contingent valuation approach to estimating the recreational value of commercial whale watching – the case study of Faxaflói Bay,Iceland

There is currently limited knowledge concerning the economic value of commercial whale watching from the perspective of the consumer's trip experience. This study outlines the results of an in-person contingent valuation survey, which asked whale watching tourists in Faxaflói Bay, Iceland, how much they would have been willing to pay beyond the paid ticket price. Based on a sample of 163 tourists, only 30 (18.40%) reported any consumer surplus, despite the majority stating positive satisfaction with the experience. Mean consumer surplus was 768 ISK (approximately 5.60 euros). Scaled up to the number of whale watching tourists in Faxaflói Bay in 2018 of 148,442, aggregate CS was approximately 114.0 million ISK (0.83 million euros), a 6.9% mark-up on estimated annual revenue generation derived from average ticket prices. The study provides new information on the economic value of whale watching in an area which had already been part-designated as a whale sanctuary.     

旅行费用区间分析法与分区旅行费用法的比较及应用

我国很少有研究注重旅行费用法(Travel Cost Method,TCM)本身的改进,只有李巍和李文军提出了旅行费用区间分析法(Travel Cost Interval Analysis,TCIA),但其合理性有待进一步探讨.因此,本文从积分的角度对TCIA与传统的分区旅行费用法(ZTCM)的数学本质进行了详细的对比分析.结果表明,TCIA体现了勒贝格(Lebesgue)积分的基本思想,与传统的反映黎曼(Riemann)积分思想的ZTCM相比具有一定的优越性;但如何突破样本空间的局限,是TCIA值得改进的一个方向.另外,本文还运用TCIA评估了武汉东湖风景区的游憩价值.     

Perceived barriers faced by Chinese adult children in social support of their elderly parents' outbound travels

This study aimed to investigate the perceived barriers faced by Chinese adult children in supporting their parents' outbound travel. Semi-structured in-depth interviews using thematic analysis were conducted with 21 Chinese adult children. From the perspective of support providers (i.e., Chinese adult children), seven barriers of the perceived support barriers were identified: safety and health concerns, fear of disappointing families, unwillingness to scarify their leisure time and travel needs, perceived negative parental attitudes towards travelling abroad, high cost of raising a child, complicated border exit procedures, and lack of time. Filial piety as an important cultural background plays the role of an ‘enabler’ in realising the social support of adult children for their parents' outbound travel. The findings test the leisure constraint theory in Chinese cultural backgrounds and verify the applicability of the hierarchical constraints model to adult children support providers influenced by Confucian cultural values. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The Use of Problematic Integration Theory to Assess Destination Online Promotion Activities

Abstract

This paper uses problematic integration theory to assess destination online promotional activities often used to influence consumer travel purchase behavior. The model of destination online promotion activities assessment focuses on the link between consumers' online brand preference drivers (differentiation, quality, and value) and online market data (price, distribution, Web presence, promotions, direct online communication tool, and ad identification). The model is tested using the case of Australia (www.australia.com) and their efforts to attract a U.S. market. The study found Australia.com is a well-designed travel guide that provides information and emphasizes its aesthetic aspects. However, the Website's interactive aspects could be improved. By assessing destination online promotional activities, destination marketing organizations may be able to reduce underlying uncertainty regarding the destination and more clearly address the needs of their target markets.     

A Path Analytic Model of Visitation Intention Involving Information Sources,Socio-Psychological Motivations,and Destination Image

Abstract

This study develops and tests a model to examine the organization of informational, motivational, and mental constructs on visitation intention in a path analytic framework. The findings indicated that variety (amount) and type of information sources used and socio-psychological travel motivations determine travelers' perceptual/cognitive evaluations that, in turn, form their affection (feelings) about tourist destinations. A traveler's intent to visit, then, is determined by a combination of perceptual/cognitive and affective evaluations, information sources used, and travel motivations. However, destination image (cognition and affect) appeared to mediate the relationship between visitation intention and stimuli (information sources) and consumer factors (socio-psychological travel motivations). Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed and future research areas are suggested to better understand travelers' destination selection process.