Estimation of the Recreational Value of Koohgol Resort in Sisakht City Using the Contingent Valuation Method

Abstract

Koohgol is one of the beautiful and spectacular scenery in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province in the north-east of Sisakht City and is located about 8 kilometers from it and as a recreational resort, it welcomes many tourists every year. The goal of this study is estimation of the willingness to pay of the visitors of Koohgol resort in Sisakht City. The required statistics and data were collected through the completion of 229 Double Dichotomous Choice (DDC) questionnaires by the visitors of the aforementioned resort in spring and summer of 2013. In order to estimate the rate of people’s willingness to pay, the contingent valuation method was used. In order to investigate the factors effective in people’s willingness to pay, the logit model based on maximum likelihood was estimated. The results showed that the variables of suggestion and the household size have a significant and negative effect and the variables of income and education have a significant and positive effect on the possibility of willingness to pay. Average willingness to pay per person to enter the Koohgol resort in Sisakht City has been determined as 1998.5 rials. Also, the average household size is 5.56 individuals and every person is willing to pay an average of 1998.5 rials to enter the resort. From the average household size, average willingness to pay, and from its multiplication by the number 12, the average annual recreational value per family for visiting the Koohgol resort in Sisakht City was obtained as 133339.92 rials.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s6p25