• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.42-52
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• 2009

Recreational forests are catching on as places for personal development through recreation, association with people, education about nature, mind relaxation and spiritual peace. However, the value and significance of recreational forests with various functions are easily overlooked. Whoever pays fees for admission to facilities are able to enjoy fresh air, a comfortable environment, and space for rest. It should be taken into consideration whether the fee which customers pay is appropriate for the value of nature they are enjoying. This study is involved in giving the right recognition to the value of recreation and environment by estimating economically the value of the environment in which visitors stay, and presenting the appropriate price. The most efficient way to achieve this goal is through an economic approach, which suggests following established research skills and yielding suitable and accurate amounts of money. The environmental value of a recreational forests is estimated through contingent valuation method(CVM), which is chosen among several methods to estimate public facilities because the value of recreational forests has strong characteristics as public facilities which are not traded in the market. The annual recreation value per person of surveyed recreational forests is Willingness To Pay(WTP) with a mean between about 16,000 won and 25,400 won. The recreation value of one recreational forest surveyed is annually between approximately 1.7 billions won and 2.7 billions won. The annual recreation value of 85 national and public recreational forests is presumed to be between about 140 billions won and 230 billions won. The presumed amount of money is the environment in which visitors can enjoy whenever they invest some money and time. Indeed, it is more than that; it provides visitors with a greater sense of satisfaction and the recognition of the preciousness of nature and the environment.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.10-27
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• 2017

Recently, the importance of recognizing the natural environment and the need for its conservation are increasing due to rapid urbanization. Suncheon Bay, designated as Scenic Site No. 41 and one of the World's Five Greatest Coastal Wetlands, is the only tideland among the tidal flats in Korea, which has salt marsh reserves. It has high conservation value from the ecological aspect. In addition to the Suncheon Bay National Garden, it provides various benefits not only to visitors but to local residents as well in terms of economics, environmental issues, and history and cultural aspects. Two million tourists visit the site annually, which has constantly highlighted the limits of ecological capacity. The valuation of the Suncheon Bay wetland is more important for the sustainability of the Suncheon Bay wetland than for its value as a tourism resource for the activation of the local economy. This study used the Logit model, which is commonly used among probabilistic choice models, to evaluate the economic value of Suncheon Bay wetland with the contingent valuation method(CVM). Applying the conservation value of the Suncheon Bay wetland to the benefit of KRW 8,200 for 1 person and 1 day, the benefit from exploration is KRW 2,050, the management and conservation value is KRW 3,034, and the heritage value is KRW 3,116. The results of this study are that benefit from the annual exploration of Suncheon Bay wetland was KRW 44.3 in billion, the management and conservation value was KRW 6.55 in billion, and the heritage value was KRW 6.73 in billion. When converted to the number of paying visitors per year, the conservation value is about KRW 177.1 billion. This study was conducted to evaluate the use and conservation aspects of the economic value of Suncheon Bay wetland. Based on the latent value of the Suncheon Bay wetland, it provides basic data about the efficient management and policy establishment of Suncheon Bay wetland. The study is significant in that the ecological sustainability of the Suncheon bay wetland and the value of non-marketable were evaluated based on the recognition of 'benefit through exploration', 'management and conservation value' and 'value of heritage'. It can be used as policy decision data on the integrated collection of the admission fee of the Suncheon Bay wetland and Suncheon Bay National Garden.