Estimation of Recreational Value of Iranian Village of Oshtbin Using Two Stage Heckman Method

Tourism and tourism economy is becoming one of the pillars of the world trade economy, such that it is counted as a catalyst in the renovation and socio-economic development of rural areas. Valuating rural tourism areas and their environmental functions is an important step towards the correction of economic decisions based on this view that environment and tourism areas are free goods. The purpose of this study is to separate the factors affecting tourists’ willingness to pay and in particular the factors affecting tourist level of willingness to pay for their visit of Oshtbin, and also an estimation of the annual recreational value of this village by two stage Heckman method. The results indicated that income, the level of education, the number of household members, age, previous trips to village and gender variables influenced the visitors’ willingness to pay. Also income, the number of household members, and the level of satisfaction influenced the level of visitor's willingness to pay. The average willingness to pay and the annual recreational value of this village were respectively equal to 6884 and 826 080 000 Rials in 2008.