Visitors' Willingness to Pay for Park Fees: a Case Study of Penang Botanic Gardens.

This study was undertaken to determine some characteristics of visitors' willingness to pay (WTP) for park fees. The objective was to derive quantitative data on their willingness to pay for park entry and willingness to support for nature conservation. The study is based on a questionnaire survey carried out among 110 respondents at Penang Botanic Gardens in mid-2009. A series of multivariate analyses was used to determine the respondents' WTP, and the study showed that factors like income, age of respondents, education and quality of recreational services of the garden were significant determinants of WTP. The demand visitation of the garden was significantly income elastic, negative elastic of demand with its own price. This estimate provides an important indication to the conservation value of recreational services at the chosen site.