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Recreation User Fees: An Australian Empirical Investigation

Author

Listed:
  • Bruce Knapman

    (Centre for Applied Economic Research and Analysis, James Cook University of North Queensland, Townsville, Australia 4812)

  • Natalie Stoeckl

    (University of Canberra, PO Box 1, Belconnen, Canberra, Australia 2616)

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that increasing tourism and recreation usage of natural resources in Australia has placed heavy demands on those responsible for visitor management. The consequent need for more revenue has led local government and national park management to contemplate extended implementation of the ‘user pays' principle. However, user pays may be rejected on the grounds that it is not a first-best pricing policy, and/or on the grounds that public resources funded out of the public purse should be freely available. It has been suggested in the case of entry fees to national parks that they penalize the poor. This paper uses empirical estimates of demand curves for two World-Heritage-listed national parks — Kakadu and Hinchinbrook Island — to investigate the impact of entry fees on visitation and revenue, and the efficiency of fees as a revenue-raising device. An examination of visitors' socio-economic characteristics allows some comment on the equity issue. It is concluded that modest entry fees would have little impact on visitor numbers; that, provided the administrative costs of fee imposition are not prohibitive, entry fees are not only a good potential source of revenue, but also impose smaller efficiency costs than the income taxation system; and that fees may well constitute a progressive tax.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruce Knapman & Natalie Stoeckl, 1995. "Recreation User Fees: An Australian Empirical Investigation," Tourism Economics, , vol. 1(1), pages 5-15, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:toueco:v:1:y:1995:i:1:p:5-15
    DOI: 10.1177/135481669500100102
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Chung, Jin Young & Kyle, Gerard T. & Petrick, James F. & Absher, James D., 2011. "Fairness of prices, user fee policy and willingness to pay among visitors to a national forest," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 1038-1046.
    2. Farr, Marina & Stoeckl, Natalie & Beg, Rabiul Alam, 2011. "The efficiency of the Environmental Management Charge in the Cairns management area of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 55(3), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Greiner, Romy & Rolfe, John, 2003. "Estimating consumer surplus and elasticity of demand of tourist visitation to a region in North Queensland using contingent valuation," 2003 Conference (47th), February 12-14, 2003, Fremantle, Australia 57881, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    4. Francisco López-del-Pino & José M. Grisolía, 2018. "Pricing Beach Congestion," Tourism Economics, , vol. 24(4), pages 449-472, June.
    5. Jun-Ya Liu & Qun-Ji Li & Gary Sigley & Hua Quan, 2021. "How Will the Cost Change after Transformation in Public Nature-Based Attractions? A Framework and Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-14, June.
    6. Farr, Marina & Stoeckl, Natalie & Alam Beg, Rabiul, 2014. "The non-consumptive (tourism) ‘value’ of marine species in the Northern section of the Great Barrier Reef," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 89-103.
    7. Asensi Descals-Tormo & José-Ramón Ruiz-Tamarit, 2024. "Tourist choice, competitive tourism markets and the effect of a tourist tax on producers revenues," Tourism Economics, , vol. 30(2), pages 283-300, March.
    8. Stoeckl, Natalie & Condie, Scott & Anthony, Ken, 2021. "Assessing changes to ecosystem service values at large geographic scale: A case study for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    9. Eugenio-Martin, Juan L., 2011. "Assessing social carrying capacity of tourism destinations with random utility models/Evaluación de la capacidad de carga social de los destinos turísticos con modelos de utilidad aleatoria," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 29, pages 881-902, Diciembre.
    10. Becker, Nir, 2007. "Price discrimination as a policy tool for Nature Reserve Management," MPRA Paper 21867, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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