The relationship of reference price information and selected variables to willingness-to-pay and appropriate price: A study of various recreation enhancements among season passholders using local public community pools

Two sorts of determination of user fees, willingness-to-pay (WTP) and appropriate price (AP), have been discussed in the leisure literature. WTP is a measure of consumer demand for a product or service (McCarville & Crompton, 1987a; Walsh, 1986) in terms of an individual's "maximum" value; comparatively, AP incorporates consideration of "appropriateness" about diverse issues or the trade-offs between supporting recreation from taxes or fees (Richer & Christensen, 1999; Watson & Herath, 1999; Williams, Vogt, & Vitterso, 1999). In considering the role of WTP and AP in pricing history as well as acknowledging the importance of pricing for public recreation services, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of reference price information (stated price information and cost-of-service provision information) and selected variables to recreationists' levels of WTP and AP for various recreation enhancements of local public recreation services.;Data were collected from a sample of 320 season passholders who were adult residents in the Centre Region, Pennsylvania using local public community pools. Employing a quasi-experimental design, four versions of the self-administered questionnaire with diverse treatment messages were distributed evenly to four clusters of the sample. All subjects within a group (n = 80) were given the same basic information; the three treatment groups received different "enhanced" messages compared to the control group. In short, the experimental groups acquired stated price information, cost-of-service provision information, or both stated price and cost-of-service provision information regarding questions about their levels of WTP and AP for various enhancements of the recreation opportunity and facility. To measure a participant's WTP and AP for daily general swimming under various alternatives, the contingent valuation method (Loomis & Walsh, 1997) was adopted. The valuation questions were structured in an open-ended format across five simulated market (scenarios), and participants indicated the maximum they would pay (under each scenario instead of not visiting the pool) and the appropriate price they would propose to charge.;A net response rate of 65.9% was obtained overall but the rates for individual groups varied. Groups with reference price information, the treatment groups, showed a higher response rate than did the control group. With respect to the relationship of reference price information to levels of WTP and AP for various enhancements of the recreation opportunity or facility, no interactions were identified but main effects of stated price information and cost-of-service provision information were found for WTP levels across all options; unlike WTP, an interaction involving stated price information and cost-of-service provision information was significant on AP levels for some options. As to the relationship of selected variables to levels of WTP and AP for the various enhancements, the way selected variables associate with WTP levels differed from the way these variables associate with AP levels. While the WTP for various options was generally related only to the provision of either stated price or cost-of-service provision information, the AP was explained to a greater degree by different combinations of other selected variables as well. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...