Expected Encounters and Willingness to Pay for Outdoor Recreation

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the management of natural resources for recreational activities, much of it concerning the effect of crowding in outdoor recreation. Earlier work outlined models for estimating the effect of increased visitor contacts on individual willingness to pay for wilderness experiences (Cicchetti and Smith 1973). Others have looked at how crowding affects recreational resource valuation and criteria for the optimal management of recreational resources (Anderson and Bonsor 1974, Fisher and Krutilla 1972). While the present paper is also concerned with the effect of visitor contacts on willingness to pay for outdoor recreation, it differs from earlier work by looking at how individual willingness to travel is influenced by pre-trip expectations of interparty encounters at the site. We begin the paper by reviewing the related literature concerning user contacts and outdoor recreation. The next section discusses the methods employed in this study and presents the empirical results based on data from the High Peaks area of the Adirondack Mountains in New York State. The final section discusses the results and our conclusions.