Estimating Visitor Use-Value of Arboreta: The Case of the University of Tennessee Arboretum2
Many studies have estimated demand functions for visits to recreation sites. Several included commonly defined recreation-based areas such as beaches, parks, lakes and rivers, but excluded examination of horticulturally significant sites such as botanic gardens and arboreta. This study estimates user-demand and consumer surplus for visits to the University of Tennessee Arboretum by the travel cost method. Results suggest that travel cost and income of consumers are important determinants of demand, at least in the case of visits to the University of Tennessee Arboretum, and that consumer-use value may be derived from this demand. Consumer-use value is estimated to be $20.43 per person.Abstract
Contributor Notes
2Research perfonned under funding from Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, University of Tennessee-Knoxville. The authors are grateful to Oral Capps, Jr., Ray Huffaker, Teofilo Ozuna, Jr., and John R. Stoll for their helpful comments.
3Tom Slick Senior Graduate Fellow at Texas A&M.
4Agricultural Policy Advisor, USAID Indonesia and Professor. Current address: USAID, Box 4, APO, San Francisco, CA 96356.