Recreational demand modelling for whitewater kayaking in Ireland.

Abstract

The primary objective of the thesis is to study the demand for an outdoor recreational pursuit in Ireland. The thesis uses and extends the different travel cost methods of valuation for non-market goods. The vehicle for the research is whitewater kayaking recreation in Ireland. A new method for dealing with the contentious issue of measuring the opportunity cost of time in recreational demand modeling is developed and a number of approaches are adopted to investigate the heterogeneity of tastes and preferences in the Irish kayaking community. Approaches to collecting travel cost data using the internet are also discussed. The first part of the thesis {chapter 2) describes some of the main use and non-use values associated with whitewater river systems. It also reviews the development of the sport of whitewater kayaking in Ireland. Chapter 3 examines the numerous valuation methodologies (and their applications) that are being used in the field of non-market valuation. Following this, chapter 4 reviews the single site study on the Roughty river, where the non-market benefits accruing from the preservation of "natural" conditions on one Irish river are estimated. This chapter focuses on one single river and the development threat coming from investments in new hydroelectric plants on Irish rivers. In chapter 5 the design and development of the main survey instrument are described. This chapter also gives details on survey administration, procedures, database structure and an analysis of the responses to the survey. Chapter 6 then investigates the valuation of time in recreation demand models. It uses a RUM model to analyze site choices made by Irish kayaking participants, with emphasis placed on constructing estimates for individuals’ opportunity cost of time using secondary data. The idea is motivated by a standard two-constraint model in which people can smoothly trade time for money at the market wage rate. Chapters 7 and 8 make use of the multi-attribute kayaking data to investigate the heterogeneity of tastes in the kayaking community. Chapter 7 develops an exogenous approach of incorporating preference heterogeneity using a “clustered” RUM model of whitewater kayaking site choice. In Chapter 8 two empirical models are used to endogenously take account of individual heterogeneity in analyzing whitewater kayaking site choice decisions. The two models are the random parameter logit model and the latent class model (LCM).