摘要：This study estimated demand elasticities of recreational amenities including bird watching and sightseeing in Ayubia National Park in Northern Pakistan. The data were collected from 300 visitors randomly selected for this study. A pretested interview schedule was used to collect data from respondents who visited park for bird watching and sightseeing. The data showed that income influenced willingness to pay positively and significantly. The analysis showed that the point estimates of the income elasticity of demand for recreational amenity tended to be greater than unity. This implies that improved quality of recreational amenities is a luxury good. The confidence interval for the base case suggested that a 1% increase (decrease) in income would result in about 0.7-1.5% increase (decrease) in the demand for improved recreational benefits. This indicates that income changes will indeed cause changes in the demand for this particular environmental service. Regarding the price elasticity of demand, the results clearly suggested that improved quality effects of recreational benefits are an ordinary and price elastic good. This suggested that technological innovations that would make it possible to supply the improved environmental services at a lower cost would have a relatively large impact on the demanded quantity.
关键词：demand elasticity; recreational value; environmental resources; national parks; Pakistan
