Comparing tourists' behaviour and values of land use changes: a focus on ranch land open space in Colorado

Scenic landscapes demonstrate public good attributes and will be undervalued in the market. This research compares estimates of tourists' non-consumptive use values of ranch land open space in Routt County, Colorado from contingent valuation and contingent behaviour methods. If ranch lands are converted to urban uses, the decrease in value of trips estimated using the contingent valuation method is 75% or $108 per trip day. The predicted decrease of three trip days per visitor represents a 32% reduction in visitor days. A substantial loss in value results from the conversion of ranch lands to urban uses employing either estimation method.