Demand for forest recration in Lorraine : accounting for travel choice and large choice sets
Résumé
This paper analyses the use of forests for recreational purposes in Lorraine, France. This is a region with many forests and easy access for recreational users. This implies that residents in Lorraine can choose between a large set of forests if they decide to go for a forest visit. The abundance of forests in Lorraine makes identification of the visited forests difficult. To facilitate identification of forests actually visited we incorporate an interactive map in a web-based survey intended to gather both revealed and stated preference data. We compare different sampling schemes to define the choice set used for site selection modeling when the actual choice set considered is unknown and potentially large. The easy access to forest implies also that around half of the visitors walk or bike to the forest. We apply an error component mixed logit model to model the travel mode decision and the site selection decision simultaneously and to combine revealed and stated preference data. Finally, we compare the welfare effects of changes in quality and access to forests based on alternative choice set specifications, model specifications and data sources (revealed and stated preference data).