This paper uses the ‘quick and dirty’ travel cost method (TCM) to generate a range of estimates of one part of the environmental value of the Australian Alps: the recreation use value (RUV). Data for the study were collected during 2001/02 from 4,791 visitor surveys which provided information on 18,480 individuals who were visiting seven different regions of the Australian Alps across three states. The range of estimates is between $10 billion and $200 billion – that range varying across a variety of plausible travel costs and other research judgements.
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