Economic valuation of environmental resources at Malaysia Agriculture Park

M.L. Raziah

Abstact

An individual travel cost method was used to evaluate the economic value of environmental resources at Malaysia Agriculture Park. Primary survey was conducted in April 2003 involving 100 visitors. Majority of the visitors were staying less than 20 km from the park, and spent less than 30 minutes for their travel time. Most visitors spent less than RM60.00 each for their travel related costs. A trip generating function was estimated using the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) procedure. The travel cost variable showed negative sign indicating that the number of visits tends to decrease as the travel cost increases. The average net benefit that the visitors got out of recreating at the park was estimated at RM152.00 per visit per year. The total annual net economic benefit that the park environmental resources provide to society based on the total number of visitors in the year 2000 was estimated at RM19 million per year.

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