Economic Valuation of Cultural Heritage: Application to a museum located in the Alto Douro Wine Region– World Heritage Site

Abstract

Cultural assets are increasingly being considered in the policies of social and economic development of territories due to spillover effects. However, since cultural assets are not transacted in the market, their use value should be calculated using indirect methods of evaluation or non market techniques. In this paper, the travel cost method was chosen to estimate the curve of demand in the Museum of Lamego which constitutes an important cultural item of the Alto Douro Wine Region, classified by UNESCO in 2001, as a world heritage site – a living and evolving cultural landscape. The results of the application of the Poisson model confirm the expected, that is, the probability of visiting the museum is positively influenced by the educational level, female gender and negatively by the travel cost.

Keywords

• Cultural economy
• cultural heritage
• travel cost method
• museum demand