Willingness-to-pay for snowmobile recreation: travel cost method models with and without post-season resurvey of trip count

Ryan Larsen, R. Garth Taylor, John R. McKean and Donn M. Johnson

Applied Economics, 2020, vol. 52, issue 20, 2178-2190

Abstract: Annual willingness-to-pay (WTP) for snowmobile recreation in Idaho is estimated using the travel cost method (TCM). On-site snow conditions are important and erratic, thus we collect two measures of the annual trip count, an in-season survey of the expected count, and a post-season survey of the actual count. Two variants of the TCM model are estimated. Using the post-season actual trip count data and the ‘traditional’ TCM model, WTP increases from $41 to $91 per person per trip as the fraction of the wage rate that is used to value the opportunity cost of travel time is increased from 1/4 to one. Using the preferred short-run decision TCM model, WTP increases from $53 to $194 as the snowmobiler ratings of off-trail snow conditions vary from worst to best. WTP estimates using the in-season expected trip count data and the traditional TCM model are much higher (triple) than those found using the post-season actual trip count data, and the confidence intervals are much larger.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2019.1686112

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