Measuring recreational value of world natural heritage site and analyzing its biases based on tourists’ attitude：A case study of Jiuzhaigou

Key words: 
• contingent valuation method (CVM) /
• attitude /
• preference /
• natural heritage /
• recreational value /
• bias /
• Jiuzhaigou

Abstract: Contingent valuation method（CVM） is an evaluation instrument for public goods on the basis of attitude and preference. This paper employs CVM to value the recreational benifits of Jiuzhaigou, one of the World Natural Heritage sites in China, and analyzes the biases in the survey. The results show that: 1) In 2009, Jiuzhaigou’s recreational value is ￥346 million, and the per capita WTP is ￥137.31. Compared with other methods, this result is significantly lower. 2) Among the factors that influence Jiuzhaigou tourists’ Willingness to Pay(WTP), psychological perception factors take the greatest effect while demographics and Socio-Economic Characteristics have little correlation with WTP. 3）The hypothesis in CVM brings biases both in CVM itself and in the procedures that CVM is implemented.The former includes hypothetical bias, information bias, protest response bias, and strategic bias; and the latter appears during the valuation process, such as the questionnaire design, population and sample definition, sampling and data processing. This paper analyses those biases considering questionnaire design and survey process and illustrates their potential influences on the accuracy of CVM measurement. 4) Although there are varies defects in CVM measurement, it is still an effective valuation method. And we should emphasis more on validity and reliability test than on case study or theory building.