Determination of Environmental Valuation of Bey?ehir Lake National Park by Travel Cost and Contingent Valuation Methods

Abstract

With the increasing population of the world, developments such as unplanned growth, urbanization, industrialization and accordingly climate change have necessitated the protection of natural resources. In this context, National Parks are the leading natural resources under protection. Since national parks are natural assets used for recreational and tourism purposes, they provide important contributions to the country's economy as well as the social benefit they provide to the society. Therefore, natural resources need to be included in the calculations of national income, which is a measure of the growth rate of countries, and economic value determination is needed for this. For this purpose, Beysehir Lake National Park, which is the second largest national park, has been valued. Contingent Valuation Method and Travel Cost Method are used in the appraisal. During the data collection phase, 383 samples were determined using the Proportional Sampling Method, and the surveys were conducted with visitors within the national park in the summer of 2019. According to the Conditional Valuation Method, 186.838.123 TL was calculated, 453.612.000 TL according to the Travel Cost Method and the total economic value was determined as 640.450.123 TL. The consumer surplus per visitor, that is, the fee that a visitor is willing to pay for a visit to the national park in one year, was calculated as 2.202 TL. All findings obtained with a stake in the country's national income in light of the economic value of Turkey and the second largest national park was revealed the existing potential. Its economic value should be evaluated in development policies, and its existing potential should be presented to the social benefit of people by protecting it within the framework of environmental protection policies.