Environmental diversity in recreational choice modelling

The accuracy of environmental valuation studies relies, to a great extent, on the suitability of the proxy measures used to capture individuals’ preferences. While important advances have been achieved in last years concerning the characterization of the physical background in which recreational choices are made, Travel Cost Method applications have failed to consider the heterogeneity of landscape and the spatial configuration of land use. This paper presents an empirical application to forest recreation in Mallorca (Spain), implementing a random parameter logit model to evaluate —in terms of goodness-of-fit, model predictions and welfare measurements— the effects of environmental diversity on the recreational site-choice process.