Unit day values: an application to Auckland regional parks

Abstract

Unit Day Values (UDV) have been widely used in North America to estimate the recreational and related benefits from parks and similar non-market resources. In essence they rely upon expert assessments based on previous non-market valuations studies, with adjustments made to account for variations in park quality, location, congestion, income, or activities undertaken. The UDV approach can not replace non-market valuation tools in generating information on Willingness To Pay, but they do provide decision makers with an alternative method of gauging benefits from parks and similar resources when Contingent Valuation, Travel Cost, or Hedonic Price techniques are prohibitively costly. This paper discusses the use of UDV's, and demonstrates their use through an application to Auckland Regional Parks.