A Travel Cost Estimation of Consumer Surplus in Recreational Visits: A Count Model Approach

Recreational services are demanded because they generate benefits. The recreational benefits connected with a destination can be valued based on visitor preferences, which can aid in the formulation of an appropriate Natural Resource Management policy. Environmental and natural resource management studies often attempt to quantify the welfare shift caused by a policy change. In general, welfare is defined as the area under the demand curve; and accordingly, by estimating the demand curve, consumer surplus is obtained, which illustrates the welfare changes connected with an environmental policy change. But unfortunately, conventional markets fail to determine the recreational demand preferences for lack of a proper price mechanism. So the only choice is a non-market method. The Travel Cost Method (TCM) is a well-documented demand-based method in environmental literature for measuring such non-marketed recreational benefits. This study attempts to estimate the consumer surplus, in the recreational demand for the Dibru Saikhowa National Park (DSNP), Assam, with the help of TCM. In the process, it also seeks to answer the question of whether the existing user charges of DSNP reflect the true recreational demand assigned to the park by its visitors. The findings of the study are expected to be useful for different stakeholders associated with the park’s conservation in general and its recreational services in particular, including policymakers.