Abstract
This paper examines the individual and social values of tour and recreation activities related to the characteristics and attractions of parks in urban area through a questionnaire. The data for this research consists of 2,942 samples based on interviews in sixteen parks in Daegu area. Implications of the findings for urban parks design and tour and recreation policy are discussed. Travel cost method and contingent valuation method are applied essentially. These methods yield a reasonable estimation of the relationship between tour and recreation values of the parks and the visit rate which can be used to estimate demand functions for tour and recreation experiences provided by a site. Semilog-type models can be used to estimate the use of the park. Finally, the tour and recreation value of each park per user-day is estimated by the total experiences of the users. This study is a modest but important step in the investigation of urban parks and recreation site demand and values. Many of the developments in contingent valuation method and travel cost modeling should now be applied to the urban scale parks and recreation sits. Such studies will contribute significantly to the improvement of methodology for tour and recreation values measuring, especially to individual and social benefits for the urban parks, and provide the much needed guidance for the allocation of scarce tour and recreation resources.