Steps for applying the travel expense method

In order to comprehensively calculate the sum of all consumer surpluses, the tourism demand curve for the evaluated location must be inferred, which is also the most critical step in applying the travel cost method. Deriving the tourism demand curve mainly includes the following steps:

(1) Define and divide the departure area of ??tourists: take the evaluation site as the center of the circle, and divide the area around the site into several regions according to distance. Increasing distances mean increasing travel costs.

(2) Conduct a sample survey of tourists at the evaluation location: for example, stand at the entrance of the evaluation location, ask each tourist about his departure point, and collect relevant information to determine the user's departure area, Tourism rates, travel costs and socioeconomic characteristics of respondents.

(3) Calculate the number of people traveling to this location in each region (tourism rate)

(4) Find the impact of travel costs on the tourism rate: According to the survey of tourists Based on the sample data, we use the analyzed data to regress the tourism rates and travel costs in different regions as well as various socioeconomic variables to obtain the first-stage demand curve, that is, the impact of travel costs on tourism rates.

Qi = a0 + a1CTi + a2Xi

In the formula: Qi——tourism rate,

Vi——area i calculated based on the results of sample survey The total number of tourists to the evaluation location;

Pi - the total population of area i;

CTi - the travel cost from area i to the evaluation location;

< p>Xi——Including the income, education level and other related socio-economic variables of tourists in region i,

(5) Estimate the actual tourism demand curve.

The fourth step formula: Qi = a0 + a1CTi + a2Xi actually reflects the relationship between tourism rates and travel costs in different regions. With such a relationship, we can further estimate different regions The total number of tourists in the city and how it changes as ticket fees increase leads to a series of actual demand curves. First, calculate the total number of tourists in different areas when the ticket fee is zero according to the formula. This is also the maximum number of required evaluation sites. Then, gradually increase the price of ticket fees (actually equivalent to increasing tourism costs) to determine the impact on the number of tourists in different regions when marginal tourism costs increase. By adding up the number of tourists within each region, the marginal change in tourism costs relative to the total tourist population can be determined. This process continues until the total tourist population reaches zero. This way we can get a demand curve for the evaluation location. It is worth pointing out that this demand curve is predicted based on the relationship between tourism costs and tourist numbers obtained from the survey. The key assumption behind the curve is that when tourism costs increase, the number of tourists will decrease.

(6) Calculate the consumer surplus in each area: With the above demand curve, we can estimate the total consumer surplus, which is expressed as the area under the demand curve. Calculation using mathematical methods is to integrate the demand curve equation from 0 to V0. Adding the consumer surplus to the total cost of the trip gives the tourist's total value to the assessed location.