Non-market value of summer outdoor recreation in Val Bedretto, Switzerland

Abstract

Most of the research done to date on Alpine area focuses on winter activities due to its worldwide popularity. However, the Alps offer a wide variety of outdoor activities during the summer/autumn that are enjoyed by the Swiss and non-Swiss alike. This thesis estimates the consumer surplus for the summer/autumn season obtained by climbing, cycling, mountaineering and walking in Val Bedretto (Swiss Alps), based on the Travel Cost Method. The data is analyzed by latent class panel on-site models. This analysis achieves to identify two types groups of visitors, frequents and occasional; where frequent ones obtain a consumer surplus of 458.6$ per season while the occasional (90% of the visitors) get a consumer surplus statistically equal to zero.