Daily Fluctuations in Campground Use: An Econometric Analysis

The Review of Regional Studies, 1985

This paper presents a methodology for deriving forecasts of recreation (resort, etc.) demand based upon the standard travel cost model (TCM). To illustrate the technique, a sample TCM is derived to estimate visitation to the Virginia Beach, Virginia shoreline for the Summer, 1981 period. Using the estimated parameters from the model, visitation to Virginia Beach in 1990 is forecasted using data on income and population projections from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (U.S. Department of Commerce). This paper develops a methodology for forecasting recreation demand using cross sectional data in the standard travel cost model (TCM). Several previous studies have illustrated the use of the TCM for estimating current demand for various recreational facilities. For example, Wetzstein and McNeely (1980) develop a TCM to estimate demand for winter recreation (skiing). Bowes and Loomis (1980), Ziemer et. al. (1980), and Strong (1980), estimate demand for trips to reservoir recreation areas. Allen (1981) estimates demand for camping recreation areas using the TCM. None of these studies, however, has demonstrated the usefulness of the TCM to regional planning authorities by presenting an effective method for deriving forecasts. For regions having an economic base of recreation demand, accurate forecasts are likely to be of considerable use to such authorities. In the first section, the basic TCM technique is presented. The second section applies the technique by developing a TCM for estimating visitation (recreation demand) to the Virginia Beach, Virginia

Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1976

Annals of Tourism Research, 2019

The paper develops a model to estimate the effect of entry fees on U.S. national parks visits. Monte Carlo analysis demonstrates that a Poisson-estimated exponential model is preferable to a log-linear model of tourist arrivals. We apply the model to panel data of U.S. national parks tourism to estimate the effect of fees on annual visitation. The results provide evidence that visits to U.S. national parks are inelastic with respect to fees. We use the model to predict the effects of two proposed fee revisions.

Journal of agricultural and resource economics, 1996

A model of recreation demand is developed to determine the role of water levels in determining participation at and frequency of trips taken to various federal reservoirs and rivers in the Columbia River Basin. Contingent behavior data are required to break the near-perfect multicollinearities among water levels at some waters. We combine demand data for each survey respondent at different levels of time aggregation (summer months, rest of year, and annual), and our empirical models accommodate the natural heteroskedasticity that ...

Water Resources Research, 1972

Recreation studies have in the past confused the terms demand and use. Demand refers to the schedule of quantities that the community will desire a t all possible prices. Use or participation is the realization of both demand and supply considerations. Accordingly, a priori information in addition to the data must be supplied prior to the estimation of economic models of the recreation market. The identification problem assesses the sufficiency of such information. Since the type of information and the data themselves impose constraints on the specification, estimation, and use of economic models of the recreation market, a taxonomy of each applied study framed around a general equilibrium model of recreation decisions is presented, and the specific applied studies are discussed. A clear outline of the logical structure connecting the theoretical model with its empirical realization results from this taxonomy.

The importance of accounting for a respondent’s travel time in recreation demand models is well established. In practice, most analysts use a fixed fraction of the respondent’s wage rate to value travel time. However, other approaches have been suggested in the literature. In this paper revealed and stated preference data on Iowa wetland usage is used to explore various specifications of travel time. It is shown that the choice of a particular specification has a direct impact on welfare estimates as well as the consistency between revealed and stated preference data.

1989

Modeling and estimating consumption, demand, supply, values, scarcity, future equilibria, and price changes have been major challenges in comprehensive recreation assessment and planning. The results of 6 years of work reported in this Paper show research advancements toward meeting these challenges. Accomplished as the central analysis for the 1989 Renewable Resources Planning Act Assessment, a household market model covering 37 recreational activities was computed for the United States. Equilibrium consumption and costs were estimated, as were likely future changes in consumption and costs in response to expected demand growth and alternative development and access policies. Except for consumptive wildlife and fishing activities, most outdoor recreation demand and supply equilibria will grow to much higher levels of consumption in future years. For most activities, aggressive expansion of resource access and site development to provide more recreation opportunities will be necessa...

1991

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Journal of Applied Economics, 2012

Using count data models that account for zero-truncation, overdispersion, and endogenous stratification, we estimate the value of access to recreational parks. The focus is on the empirical estimation of the proportion of the wage rate that best approximates park visitors' opportunity cost of travel time within the cost of their trip and its effects on estimated consumer surplus. The fraction of hourly earnings that corresponds to the opportunity cost of travel time is endogenously estimated as a function of visitor characteristics, rather than fixed exogenously. In this case, which deals with a relatively remote recreational site, the relevant opportunity cost of time for most visitors appears to represent a smaller fraction of their wage rate than commonly assumed in previous similar studies.

2008

Using count data models that account for zero-truncation, overdispersion, and endogenous stratification, this paper estimates the value of access to recreational parks. The focus is on the valuation of the opportunity cost of travel time within the cost of the trip and its effects on estimated consumer surplus. The fraction of hourly earnings that corresponds to the opportunity cost of travel time is endogenously estimated as a function of visitor characteristics, rather than fixed exogenously. We find that the relevant opportunity cost of time for most visitors represents a smaller fraction of their wage rate than commonly assumed previously.