The travel cost method and the economic value of leisure time

Recent estimates of high values for tourist related recreation USA amenity values indicate that allocation of basic water and terrestrial resources to recreation activities should be given precedence over conventional market oriented activities that often degrade or even extirpate the resource. We discuss at length the travel cost method (TCM), a survey based technique that quantifies the non-market benefits of trips to recreation sites. The TCM has been cast in the role of an ‘umpire’ in recent resource allocation debates. Understanding the key role of the TCM in the debate will aid tourist agency officials throughout the world. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the U.S.A.