Valuing tourism landscapes in Ba Vi National Park (Vietnam) Dat Nho Tran(1), Linh Duy Thi Nguyen(2), Nguyen An Thinh(3) (1) General Directorate of Forestry, MARD, Hanoi, Vietnam (2) Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment (HUNRE), Hanoi, Vietnam (3) VNU University of Economics and Business, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam * Correspondence: nhodatbttn@gmail.com Abstract: The study uses the travel cost method (TCM) to determine the value of entertainment and tourism in the National Park: a case study in Ba Vi National Park, and through a research logit model to assess factors affecting the tourist behavior of visitors in this area The research results show that the entertainment and tourism value of Ba Vi National Park in 2017 is estimated at nearly 794 billion VND and tends to increase in the future Traveler behavior in Ba Vi National Park varies due to factors: income, gender, age, educational level, interests, other interests and purpose of the trip In which the factors of education and income strongly influence the tourist behavior of visitors Research results will help managers choose appropriate policies and management mechanisms to maintain and effectively use resources from the National Park and regional development towards sustainable development in the future Keywords: Travel cost method (TCM), Ba Vi National Park, landscape value, entertainment and tourism value Introduction Ba Vi National Park is a famous place with green spaces of mountains, rivers, lakes and traditional villages With these advantages, Ba Vi National Park has developed many types of tourism such as ecotourism, resort, cultural – spiritual tourism, community tourism The development of tourism as a tool to stimulate economic development in local area, create jobs and improve the lives of the local people (Schmallegger et al., 2010) However, not many people are aware of the recreational value of natural forests hidden behind many other direct values Researching and assessing the landscape value of natural forests is therefore essential, especially in developing countries where natural forests are severely degraded because they have not been properly assessed The results of the study will contribute to further clarifying the value of forests in terms of tourism landscape as a basis for developing appropriate forest use management mechanisms that are true to its value Therefore, it is necessary to establish a new method to value the national park services based on users’ benefit through an approach that called travel cost method The method highlights the dominant functions of National Park from a users’ point of view such that it would become a useful technique of public park service valuation In order to assess the existing benefits of parks, investigation on park users’ behavior to infer economic value on travel expense to consume public good is employed The travel cost method is the utilized to estimate the recreational benefit based on economic value of national park visitation To verify the suitability of the proposed framework, a case study was done to investigate recreation behavior of park users in Ba Vi National Park, Hanoi This recreation demand in parks based on the travel cost method was also identified through this study The structure of this paper is organized as follows In the following section, the suggested method for value benefit to users from Ba Vi National Park is presented Following that, a method for data collection and the study area explained in details The main concepts of this study are subsequently applied by utilizing the collected data from survey and illustrated in this section Then, the implication of result from analysis is enlightened in this section Finally, the conclusion of this study is concluded and discussed for future research Methodology Travel cost method The travel cost method is commonly used to estimate the consumer surplus associated with travelling to the recreational sites such as parks, beaches and heritage sites (Hailu et al, 2005) It is based on revealed preferences, meaning that environmental values are retrieved by investigation of real choices in order to derive a demand curve for recreation The TCM method was first proposed by Hotelling (1947) and then refined by Clawson and Knetsh (1966) The main intuition is that costs sustained by visitors may approximate the value of their recreational experience In this context, the “quantity” of recreation is valued as the number of trips tourists undertake in a given timespan, or days spent in the destination, while the associated unit cost is represented by the travel cost sustained for the round trip Other costs, such as food and accommodation, costs for equipment and licenses are also included, to better refine the estimation People assumed to be travel cost – sensitive, meaning that people living closer to the destination will undertake more visit compared to people living closer (Ezebilo, 2016) The basic premise of the travel cost method is that the time and travel cost expenses that people incur to visit a site represent the “price” of access to the site Thus peoples “willingness to pay to visit the site can be estimated based on the number of trips that they make at different travel costs This is analogous to estimating peoples’ willingness to pay for a marketed good based on the quantity demanded at different prices Travel cost method is quite unobtrusive, as it follows the standard economic techniques for measuring value This method also uses information regarding actual behavior rather than verbal responses to scenarios imaginable It is based on the simple and reasonable assumptions that travel costs reflect the value of recreation Most tourists living far from certain tourism destinations are less likely to visit because they have to bear higher cost especially in terms of actual travel costs and time costs The number of trips from the zone of origin (the latest place of residence or other tourism destination visited during the trip) at different distances from the tourism location The travel cost from each zone is used to obtain an aggregate demand curve for the trip to this tourism destination Other factors may affect the number of trips to tourist destinations Individuals with higher incomes will usually travel more to their destinations of interest If there are other tourism destinations with alternative advantages, individual travelers will travel less Other factors that affect TCM art personal interest in the type of tourism destination and the level of experience at the recreational areas will affect the frequency of trips According to McConnel and Strand (1981), in order to use the Travel Cost Method, the information to be collected includes: (a) the number of trips from each origin zone (usually can be defined by the difference in postcode), (b) demographic information of the travel of individual travelers from each zone, (c) the travel cost per mile, (d) the value of time used for travel, or the time cost of the previous travel A more complex and comprehensive application for collecting the following information: The accurate distance that each individual goes to the site Accurate travel expenses The duration of the trip The amount of time spent at the travel destination involved Other location visited during the same trip, and the amount of time spent on each location Other tourism destinations that the tourists have visited (excluding this tourism destination), and the travel distance of each of the tourism location Other reasons for travel (was the purpose of the travel only for visiting the tourism destination, or for some other purposes) The quality of recreational experience in this tourism destination, and on other similar sites (eg: successful fishing) Perception of the environmental quality of the site Site features and others, substitute, site The number of visits for each region is calculated based on data collected from the interview The visit rate per 1000 people in each region is calculated using the following formula: VR = Where: VR is the visit rate (number of trips/1000 people/ year; Vi is the numbers of visitors from region i; n is the sample size (n=73); N is the total number of visitors in a month (N = 12000 in the survey month); and P is the population of region i Spherical functions are established and used for regression The functional functions for establishing a demand function can be linear or semi-logarithmic Where: I represents region i and Vi represents the percentage of tourists per 1000 inhabitants at the entry fee of zero Based on the defined tourism demand function, the consumer surplus can be estimated Consumer surplus is calculated based on integral formula The formula for each region is as follows: Where: CSi is being the consumer surplus region I; TCi is total current travel expense of travelers in each region I; and POPi is the population of region i Data collection It is performed by direct interview with the visitors at study collection The Zonal Travel Cost Method (ZTCM) is adopted for TCM Questionnaire was designed very carefully in order to get maximum valid and reliable study results Time to collect data from October to December, 2018 Questionnaire Consists of two parts such as Personal Information, Trip Information The first section includes general information which contains respondents’ name, demographic and other background questions, such as age, gender, education and monthly income Second section contains original starting place, the total number days spent visiting park, travel expenditure including the accommodation fee, type of accommodation, provinces, different travel vehicles they used, their weights on certain destinations and relative information and attitudinal questions toward the park Results Travel Cost Method per person for each zone was calculated as average individual travel cost in each zone Trip cost consists of cost for two ways travel, entrance ticket, food & beverage, sight – seeing & recreating photography, accommodation, other miscellaneous cost Ona way travel cost is calculated from the distance travelled to reach Ba Vi National Park and type of vehicle used Time include both travel time Cost for time is calculated from total monthly income Table presents the regional zoning using ZTCM model for Ba Vi National Park for domestic tourists Table 1: Region by tourist origin (domestic tourists) Region Distance (km) Province Population 10 Ba Vi (Van Hoa, Tan Linh) 25,135 30 Phu Phuong; Phong Van; Phuc Tho; 50 Ha Noi; Hoai Đuc; Nam Tu Liem; 400,767 Son Tay; 8,007,358 Bac Tu Liem; Vinh Phuc; Phu Tho; 70 Chuong My; Hoang Mai; Thanh 1,117,742 Xuan; Ba Đinh; 200 Long Bien; Hung Yen; Hai Phong; 4,488,700 500 Nghe An; Thanh Hoa; 6,533,000 >500 Khanh Hoa; Hue 1,546,124 Bac Ninh (Source: Survey data of the research team) Table summarizes the composition of travel cost for domestic travelers from regions The results show that transportation costs account for a large part of the total costs for areas far from the survey sites Table presents the results of calculating the visiting rate per 1000 people (which is the model dependent variable) in a year from regions of domestic visitors This proportion represents the tourism demand in Ba Vi National Park, so it will be inversely proportional to the cost (with distance), so the smaller the value the father the region is Table 2: Travel expense to Ba Vi National Park Region Distance Time Travel expense Time cost Surcharge Total cost (km) (day) (VND) (dong) (VND) (VND) 10 30,488.32 245,433.767 100,000 375,922.087 30 1.2 91,464.96 294,520.520 166,000 551,985.48 50 1.11 152,441.6 272,431.481 310,416.7 735,289.781 70 1.33 213,418.24 326,426.910 220,416.7 760,261.85 200 1.18 609,766.4 289,611.845 270,454.5 1,169,832.745 500 1,524,416 245,433.767 340,000 2,109,849.767 850 2.25 2,591,507.2 552,225.976 1,875,000 5,018,733.176 (Source: Survey data of the research team) Table 3: Rate of visits per 1000 people per year from all regions Region Total population Visitor rate in the Number of people participating in (thousand people) sample (%) tourism in the Park/ 1000 265,135 4.109 22.317 400,767 6.849 24.609 8,007,358 76.71 13.795 1,117,742 15.07 19.415 4,488,700 16.44 5.274 6,533,000 2.739 0.604 1,546,124 5.479 5.103 (Source: Survey data of the research team) Visitation rate (Vrate) and Demand curve: Visitation rate for each zone i.e actual number of visits per zone divided by zonal population Regression analysis was carried out on the zonal model with the visitation rate as the dependent variable and travel cost as independent variable Microsolf Excel selected an appropriate curve fit for the value From the calculated results of the cost and visit rate in the above tables, using the surveyed ZTCM model, using the two – step log regression method, we obtained the entertainment demand function in Ba Vi National Park: Y= 1E+06ln(x) + 4E+06 The demand curve is constructed as shown in Figure 1: Figure 1: Demand curve about recreation at Ba Vi National Park Table briefly presents the total value from domestic tourists with the composition: consumer surplus, cost and tourism value The total tourism value is equal to the sum of consumer surplus plus spending Table 4: Travel value of Ba Vi National Park in 2017 (VND billion) Domestic tourists Surplus Spending Tourism Value 472.280 322.123 794.403 The monetary value of tourism in Ba Vi National Park in 2017 was about 794,403 billion VND (equivalent to $35.1 billion, with VND/ USD 2017 rate of 22,650) This is the value that Ba Vi National Park produces for the economy in a year, not the Park’s revenue This value is distributed to, first, tourists to Ba Vi National Park, who benefit from recreational activities (in the form of consumer surplus) and for companies carrying passengers and service providers such as hotels, restaurants, travel companies, etc Consumer surplus is estimated at VND 472,280 billion (approximately US $ 20.9 million), which can be interpreted as a recreational benefit of Ba Vi National Park in 2017 This is the value that tourists gain or add value when they conduct recreation in Ba Vi National Park This data also refers to the willingness to pay (WTP) for the natural resources of Ba Vi National Park, such as water, air, flora and fauna and landscape However, it does not refer to the unused value of Ba Be National Park Part of tourism value is distributed to the local economy in the form of visitor spending Conclusions and discussion Along with economic growth, the process of industrialization, modernization and urbanization is increasing, making the environment increasingly polluted Today many people understand that protecting the environment and natural resources is also protecting their lives But besides that, people still strive to destroy nature because according to them "the environment is common, is infinite" Because it is necessary to quantify the values that the environment brings, contributing to raising people's awareness as well as protecting natural resources The results of calculation of recreational value of Ba Vi National Park show that: - The recreational value of Ba Vi National Park tourist area is determined by the method of regional tourism cost with the number of tourists in 2018 is 794.403 billion VND - The value of entertainment is only for domestic visitors, not including benefits for international visitors - The recreational value calculated is higher than the revenue from recreational activities of Ba Vi National Park, which is explained as the revenue from recreational activities only includes entrance fees and some other revenues while That entertainment value is the benefit that visitors get from leisure Compared with the revenue and benefits of the resort, the benefits of the resort are much larger, which proves that the landscape value of Ba Vi National Park is quite large Combined with the fact that the entrance fee of Ba Vi National Park is at an average level, it indicates the need to raise the entrance fee, which creates an additional source of revenue for conservation and enhancement of leisure value for visitors However, our research is still limited During the survey of tourists due to lack of experience as well as short survey period, it did not gather much necessary information The amount of information collected is similar to the number of other interviewees and is not very comprehensive and does not cover all the number of visitors from provinces and cities across the country Therefore, the research results may still not completely reflect an objective The Travel Cost Method is a simple one and does not reflect the impact of environmental quality or income as well as many other factors on the demand function Moreover, the international visitor sample has not been collected in the model due to the fact that it is difficult to identify and important because international visitors often combine tourism or research many locations across the country and the National Park is only one destination so the cost distribution is difficult to determine The results of this research will be a guide for further research development References Clawson, M., & Knetsch, J.L (1966) Economics of Outdoor Recreation By Marion Clawson and Jack L Knetsch Johns Hopkins University Press Ezebilo, E.E (2016) Economic value of a non-market ecosystem service: an application of the travel cost method to nature recreation in Sweden International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management, 12(4), 314-327 Hailu, A., Thoyer, S (2005) What format for multi-unit auctions: uniform, discriminatory or generalized Vickrey? Working paper Hotelling, H (1947) The economics of public recreation The Prewitt Report McConnel, K E., & Strand, I (1981) Measuring the cost of time in recreation demand analysis: an application to sportfishing American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 63(1), 153-156 Schmallegger, D., Carson, D., & Tremblay, P (2010) The economic geography of remote tourism: The problem of connection seeking Tourism Analysis, 15(1), 125-137 ... recreational benefit of Ba Vi National Park in 2017 This is the value that tourists gain or add value when they conduct recreation in Ba Vi National Park This data also refers to the willingness to pay... calculating the visiting rate per 1000 people (which is the model dependent variable) in a year from regions of domestic visitors This proportion represents the tourism demand in Ba Vi National Park, ... value of tourism in Ba Vi National Park in 2017 was about 794,403 billion VND (equivalent to $35.1 billion, with VND/ USD 2017 rate of 22,650) This is the value that Ba Vi National Park produces