Estimating the Economic Value of Tourist Attractions Using Travel Cost Method (Case Study: Namir Garden, Yazd Province)

Abstract

IntroductionThe tourism industry is one of the underlying factors for the growth and prosperity of countries' economies, and nowadays, its expansion has provided considerable success for some countries. Therefore, many countries have tried to develop their tourism to benefit from the huge revenues of this profitable industry and increase economic growth. One of the most important elements of tourism planning is attention to tourist and environmental areas to correct economic decisions, which often consider environmental resources as free goods and services. So, the valuation of tourist areas is an important step in management planning for decision making and proper management. There are no serious and sufficient attention and clear policies to the tourism industry in Iran. Also, the preservation and preparation of ancient sites for public visiting are costly, and visitors usually fund this cost. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the economic value of these places to determine the optimal cost and entrance amount. So, this study aims to evaluate the economic valuation of environmental services and estimate visitors' surplus welfare in the Namir Garden (Sadri Garden) of Yazd province as an archaeological and tourism site.Materials and MethodsIn the present study, the travel cost method has been used to evaluate recreation value and determine the effective factors on the willingness of tourists to pay for the Namir Garden of Taft city. The travel cost production function was estimated based on semi-logarithmic from and using the ordinary least squares regression method (OLS). The study's statistical population includes all people who have visited Namir Garden. Necessary statistics and information were collected randomly by completing 80 face-to-face questionnaires. EVIEWS software has been used for statistical analysis of variables and mathematical calculations.Results and DiscussionRegarding the results, most Namir Garden visitors are men (69%), and a high percentage of the visitors are married (70%). Also, the highest number of visitors (nearly 74%) are in the 20 to 50 years age range (average age of visitors are 40.6 years), which indicates the suitability of Namir Garden for young to middle-aged people. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the needs of this age group.Based on the results, the largest number of visitors (nearly 44%) have a bachelor's degree, which shows that educated people want to spend their leisure time with hobbies that lead and encourage them to visit natural tourist attractions. These results coincide with the other studies such as Divar and Karimi Organi (2019), and Moayedfar et al. (2016). On the other hand, the existence of all types of professions and education of visitors in the present study indicate the flexibility and convergence of region for public use, which is similar to the findings of Yavari and Asadi Bazardeh (2016). In the present study, the average household size was 3.6, and approximately 80% of visitors' income is more than 800000 tomans per month. Also, the highest number of visitors (75%) are natives of Yazd province, and most visitors prefer spring; this is because the air temperature of the spring in Yazd is bearable and has a more favourable condition.Most visitors (approximately 92%) use a personal car to visit this place which coincides with the other studies such as Morsali et al. (2020). Therefore, creating facilities and reducing travel costs can increase the number of visitors. Also, most visitors have chosen the ancient view of the garden as the main motivation for their recreation, and roughly 82% find this garden attractive. According to the results, the variables of travel cost and arrival time are effective factors on the number of annual visits. The number of visits decreases by 0.001 and 0.5850 percentage by increasing one unit in travelling cost and reaching time to the garden, respectively. The consumer surplus per visit was estimated at 21000 Rials, and the total average recreational value of the household was estimated at 913500 Rials per year.ConclusionsIt is necessary to create efficient management to develop and protect recreational values to manage a recreation centre. Therefore, to achieve this goal, it is essential to use other methods to evaluate resorts' quality services and benefits, especially their environmental values. So if the authorities improve the current situation by providing more basic facilities, more tourists will be attracted to this historical place, who are willing to pay more for the use of existing facilities, which will expand the tourism industry and increase income. Besides considering the importance of recognizing the social criteria of visitors, it is necessary to identify social patterns in the design and planning of recreational spaces. For instance, in the present study, most visitors are 20 to 50 years age range and the majority have an academic education, so it is suggested that this group tendency should be paid more attention in recreational programs

Keywords

• individual travel cost method
• persian garden
• recreational value
• tourism economics
• urban economics