Biodiversity and the tourism value of Changbai Mountain Biosphere Reserve, China: A Travel Cost Approach

The recreational value of an outdoor site is reflected in a visitor's willingness to pay for the visit. This can sometimes be estimated using the Travel Cost Methodology (TCM) as the consumer surplus under the site demand curve. Based on a case study of Changbai Mountain Biosphere Reserve (CMBR) located in Northeast China, this paper focuses on the recreational values of tourism using the TCM and speculates on the extent to which this value depends on the biodiversity present in CMBR.