Economic valuation of natural promenades in Iran using zonal travel costs method (Case study area: Gahar Lake in Lorestan Province in western Iran)

Gahar Lake is located within Oshtorankooh Protected Area (east of Lorestan Province in Iran), which has extensive potentials for the development of the tourism industry. The aim of the present research was to determine the economic value of the Gohar Lake resort using the zonal travel cost method. T...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2020-11, Vol.15 (11), p.e0241396-e0241396
Main Authors: Kheyri, Ebrahim, Morovati, Maryam, Neshat, Akram, Siahati, Gholamreza
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology and Life Sciences
Case reports
Case studies
Costs and Cost Analysis
Data Analysis
Decision making
Earth Sciences
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Economic analysis
Economic aspects
Economics
Educational Status
Environmental economics
Environmental science
GDP
Geography
Gross Domestic Product
Humans
Income
Iran
Lakes
Natural resources
People and Places
Protected areas
Questionnaires
Random sampling
Recreation
Renewable resources
Resorts
Resorts & spas
Rivers
Sampling methods
Seasons
Social Sciences
Software
Spatial distribution
Statistical sampling
Temporal distribution
Tourism
Tourism development
Tourists
Travel
Travel - economics
Travel costs
Valuation
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Summary:Gahar Lake is located within Oshtorankooh Protected Area (east of Lorestan Province in Iran), which has extensive potentials for the development of the tourism industry. The aim of the present research was to determine the economic value of the Gohar Lake resort using the zonal travel cost method. Therefore, at first, 380 questionnaires were distributed among the tourists by the simple random sampling method based on appropriate spatiotemporal distribution during the visiting seasons. The questionnaire items were categorized as economic, social, and miscellaneous parts. The calculation results revealed a value of USD 84.538 per visitor and a value of USD 1,986,657.163 per year, indicating the high value and importance of the region. The analysis showed that socio-economic variables have a significant role in the use or non-use of the resort. The obtained R2 coefficient was 0.82, indicating that around 82% of the changes in the number of visitors can be justified by the variables introduced in the model. The results also revealed the need to pay more attention to this region and formulate a tourism development plan.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0241396