Estimating the use and preservation values of national parks' tourism resources using a contingent valuation method

The Korean national parks authority has questioned whether natural resources have enough economic value to justify an increase in admission fee in the case of inadequate assistance from the government. Alternatively, they also question whether the national parks have sufficient value to contribute to citizens' welfare in order to receive continuing support from the government. Hence, the purpose of this research is to estimate the use and preservation values of natural and/or cultural resources in five distinctive national parks, using a dichotomous choice contingent valuation method. The empirical results show that natural and/or cultural resources of the sample national parks possessed considerable use and preservation values, outweighing current admission fees and maintenance costs per visitor. Thus, these values provide enough justification for the national park authority to increase admission fees to maintain the quality of natural environment, and avoid degrading natural resources in the event of no assistance by the government. The findings may provide guidance to national park managers and practitioners who establish pricing policies. The results also show that values of natural and/or cultural resources were different across five distinctive national parks, indicating the possibility of employing differential admission fees according to park characteristics. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.