User Response in Outdoor Recreation: A Production Analysis

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Abstract
This study attempts to identify the influence of production-type variables on outdoor recreation activity. A large amount of previous recreation research has been concerned with estimating recreation “demand.” In this paper, it is argued that there are inherent problems in estimating recreation “demand” that often lead to erroneous policy conclusions. Part of this confusion is due to neglect in evaluating the influence on recreation activity of the supply or production side of the recreation market. Cross-section data of recreation sites in the Appalachian Region was used to estimate the relation between the extent of recreation use and various physical indices of the recreation site. The result is a user response function that establishes a quantitative relation between the physical facilities of the recreation site and the quantity of recreation visits occurring there. This relation can be used to simulate various recreation policy alternatives and obtain quantitative indications of the number of recreation visits that could be accommodated by the postulated supply of facilities without altering the quality of the recreation visits implicit in the user response function. An empirical example of projecting recreation user response to proposed facility increases in a subregion of the Appalachian area is presented.

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