<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The true economic value of ecosystem services may not be reflected in market transactions, because there is no real transaction for ecosystem services in the market. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the cost of time and travel to define the value people place on something in the absence of a market price. This study estimates the recreational value of Ghaleh Rudkhan forest park in the north of Iran using the individual travel cost method. This method is considered to be a substitute approach for the market. The data required were collected using questionnaires. Therefore, 271 questionnaires were randomly distributed between the visitors of the recreational site in 2016. In this study, a linear function is used to estimate the effects of explanatory variables including economic and social variables on the number of visits to estimate the recreational value of the forest park. Results showed that a consumer surplus of each person for their visit was 21500 Rials and the annual recreational value of the park was 78390595 Rials per ha. Furthermore, the variables such as travel expenses, income, distance, family size and visitor’s age are effective factors in the recreational use of the park. The results of this study can improve the quality of environmental services of the Ghaleh Rudkhan forest park and could expand the variety of services that they could supply based on the demand of the people.</p></abstract>

The true economic value of ecosystem services may not be reflected in market transactions, because there is no real transaction for ecosystem services in the market. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the cost of time and travel to define the value people place on something in the absence of a market price. This study estimates the recreational value of Ghaleh Rudkhan forest park in the north of Iran using the individual travel cost method. This method is considered to be a substitute approach for the market. The data required were collected using questionnaires. Therefore, 271 questionnaires were randomly distributed between the visitors of the recreational site in 2016. In this study, a linear function is used to estimate the effects of explanatory variables including economic and social variables on the number of visits to estimate the recreational value of the forest park. Results showed that a consumer surplus of each person for their visit was 21500 Rials and the annual recreational value of the park was 78390595 Rials per ha. Furthermore, the variables such as travel expenses, income, distance, family size and visitor’s age are effective factors in the recreational use of the park. The results of this study can improve the quality of environmental services of the Ghaleh Rudkhan forest park and could expand the variety of services that they could supply based on the demand of the people.

An economic evaluation of a forest park using the individual travel cost method (a case study of Ghaleh Rudkhan forest park in northern Iran)

Environmental & Socio-economic Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The true economic value of ecosystem services may not be reflected in market transactions, because there is no real transaction for ecosystem services in the...

An economic evaluation of a forest park using the individual travel cost method (a case study of Ghaleh Rudkhan forest park in northern Iran)

Published Online: Jun 29, 2018

Page range: 48 - 55

Received: Mar 26, 2018

Accepted: Jun 07, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/environ-2018-0014

Keywords
economic valuation, non-market goods, forest park, individual travel cost method

© 2018 Soleiman Mohammadi Limaei, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

An economic evaluation of a forest park using the individual travel cost method (a case study of Ghaleh Rudkhan forest park in northern Iran)

Published Online: Jun 29, 2018

Page range: 48 - 55

Received: Mar 26, 2018

Accepted: Jun 07, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/environ-2018-0014

Keywordseconomic valuation, non-market goods, forest park, individual travel cost method

© 2018 Soleiman Mohammadi Limaei, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
economic valuation, non-market goods, forest park, individual travel cost method