Comparing the Economic Value of Fire Conditions and the Effects of Wildfire on Hiking in New-Mexico Recreation Sites using Contingent the Valuation Method and Travel Cost Method

Abstract

There are some criticizes on Contingent valuation method (CVM) and Travel cost method (TCM),<br><br>therefore many researchers have combined multiple methods of non-market valuation or have tried to value the<br><br>non-market goods or services by different methods and check for convergent validity of the methods. In this<br><br>paper both CVM and TCM are used. The empirical part showed that willingness to pay is more for New-Mexico<br><br>recreation sites based on a dichotomous choice sample obtained from the data set gathered by Hessaln et al.<br><br>In addition, fire age is shown to have less impact on WTP of visiting the sites in contingent valuation method.<br><br>This study showed the two estimates on willingness to pay calculated by TCM and CVM are not significantly<br><br>different at the 5% level.