Factors Motivating The Visitor's Willingness to Pay for Elgoli and Mashrouteh Park in Tabriz City: Application of Two Stages Heckman Approach

Development of economic activities, population growth, people’s daily increasing business, and improvement of life standards has caused to increase in the demand for natural environments and tourism. The scarcity of these resources and insufficiency of capital resources for the reviving and establishing of the proper recreational environment, have orientated the management of natural resources to appraise the resources and to use people's participation. This study determines factors motivating visitors’ willingness to pay for Elgoli and Mashrouteh parks in Tabriz city. To this end, the contingent valuation method and two-stage Hekman approach are utilized. Also their willingness to pay to visit these parks is estimated. The required data gathered in summer 2008 through questionnaire and interviewing 261 visitors. The results revealed that monthly income, number of family members, sexuality, and degree of individual’s satisfaction from social security status, and the number of times that they visit the park over one year, are the effective factors. Moreover, the variables of duration each visit, monthly income, education and age of the visitors is identified as effective variables on the individual’s willingness to pay. The results showed that average of the willingness to pay is 2231 Rls for per visitor. Based on the results, the most effective variable is the satisfaction of social security. Therefore increasing the social security condition can be highly influence the attractive of these parks.