Estimating the Economic Value of National Parks with Count Data Models Using On-Site, Secondary Data: The Case of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (original) (raw)

National Recreation and Park Association Regular Paper Declining National Park Visitation An Economic Analysis

2016

Visitation to the major nature-based national parks has been declining. This paper specifies an econometric model that estimates the relative impact of consumer incomes, travel costs, entry fees and other factors on per capita attendance from 1993 to 2010. Results suggest that entrance fees have had a statistically significant but small impact on per capita attendance. Increasing fuel prices (travel costs) relative to income has had a more significant effect suggesting that park poli-cies reducing the cost of attendance may be desirable.

Declining National Park Visitation An Economic Analysis

2014

Visitation to the major nature-based national parks has been declining. This paper specifies an econometric model that estimates the relative impact of consumer incomes, travel costs, entry fees and other factors on per capita attendance from 1993 to 2010. Results suggest that entrance fees have had a statistically significant but small impact on per capita attendance. Increasing fuel prices (travel costs) relative to income has had a more significant effect suggesting that park policies reducing the cost of attendance may be desirable.