Nationaløkonomisk tidsskrift,
Nationaløkonomisk Forening

Abstract: Nature provides a wide range of valuable ecosystem services including outdoor recreation. In this paper the use value of all major recreational sites in Denmark is estimated using the two stage multiple-site travel cost model, where choice of recreation sites is determined by attributes of sites and travel costs between sites and potential users. The 2,475 different recreation sites included in the study consist of a variety of habitats, such as forests, open areas (e.g. heather, meadows, bogs etc.) beaches and larger city parks. We find that natural areas can generate substantial recreational values, but there are large differences in the recreational use value of different sites. The average of the marginal recreational value for natural areas is approximately DKK 8,000 per ha per year, but the value ranges from 240 DKK to over DKK 700,000 per ha per year. City parks in the major cities generate even higher values. The estimated model is used to evaluate the use values associated with the location of ongoing and planned state afforestation projects and subsidies to private afforestation. Overall, the new state forests appear to generate fairly high recreational use values. This suggests that the locations of the new state forests in Denmark are generally economically sound. However, there are large variations in the use value of the new state forests, which indicate that some of the new state forests could have been located more favourably elsewhere. Subsidized afforestation carried out by private landowners is generally located in municipalities where the recreational value of additional recreation sites is low. This suggests that the recreational benefits derived from the current private afforestation subsidy scheme are lower than they could have been.

Keywords: Multiple-site travel cost model; recreation use value; afforestation policy instruments

JEL-codes: Q26; Q51; Q57

Language: Danish

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