Erholung im Schweizer Wald: Monetärer Wert und Determinanten

Abstract

The monetary value of forest recreation and its influencing factors have been evaluated in a recent research project for the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). The study is based on an extensive survey which was conducted during the second Swiss Forest Monitoring (WaMos 2) in 2012. It uses the expenditure method, a simplified version of the travel cost method, to compute the monetary value of forest recreation. This value is estimated at 290 to 589 CHF per person and year. For Switzerland's population of the over 18-years old the value sums up to between 1.9 and 3.9 billion CHF per year. Further, the authors examined whether and to which extent the value attributed to forest recreation can be explained by the visitor's socio-economic and personal characteristics, the activities performed in the forest, the motives leading to the visit, and by the percieved characteristics of the forest. This was done by using econometric analysis and led to the result that the value of forest recreation is mostly determined by the distance between visitors' residences and the forest, the possibilities for substitution and visitors' socio-economic and personal characteristics. The properties of the forest itself, except for infrastructure, seem to have no decisive influence for the interviewees.