"Recreational use values for Victoria’s Parks"

Generalised travel-cost models were specified for the repeatable measurement of the economic value of recreation in Parks. Valuations of recreational use have been undertaken for approximately 30 metropolitan parks in Melbourne and 35 National Parks and other sites in rural Victoria. Zonal models were used and the distance ranges for each zone were set as variable parameters in a spreadsheet model. The distance from each postcode in Australia to the park was calculated using the longitude and latitude for the particular park, and for the centroid of each postcode. This specification enabled us to observe that the choice of distance ranges for each zone can have a substantial impact on the goodness of fit and on the implied level of consumer surplus per visit. The study has not been finalised and consequently few results are presented here. Nevertheless, the process of developing a generalised model and the preliminary results have caused the authors to be concerned about three aspects of travel-cost modelling, namely: 1. the allocation of consumer surplus between multiple destinations for those visitors who visited more than one destination during the trip that included the Park in question; 2. the choice of distance ranges for each postcode zone; and 3. the choice of functional form. Different approaches to each of these matters changes substantially the results obtained from the travel-cost modelling. The second aspect (distance ranges) appears not to have been addressed previously in the literature, and our approach to the first aspect (multiple destinations) may offer a new approach. Comments would be appreciated, particularly since this Study is yet to be completed. Readers are encouraged to email us: Economists@readsturgess.com.au