The Korean national parks authority has questioned whether natural resources have enough economic value to justify an increase
in admission fee in the case of inadequate assistance from the government. Alternatively, they also question whether the national
parks have sufficient value to contribute to citizens’ welfare in order to receive continuing support from the government. Hence, the
purpose of this research is to estimate the use and preservation values of natural and/or cultural resources in five distinctive national
parks, using a dichotomous choice contingent valuation method.
The empirical results show that natural and/or cultural resources of the sample national parks possessed considerable use and
preservation values, outweighing current admission fees and maintenance costs per visitor. Thus, these values provide enough
justification for the national park authority to increase admission fees to maintain the quality of natural environment, and avoid
degrading natural resources in the event of no assistance by the government. The findings may provide guidance to national park
managers and practitioners who establish pricing policies. The results also show that values of natural and/or cultural resources were
different across five distinctive national parks, indicating the possibility of employing differential admission fees according to park
characteristics.r2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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