What Price Recreation in Finland?--a Contingent Valuation Study of Non-Market Benefits of Public Outdoor Recreation Areas‪.‬

Introduction Finland is a sparsely populated country, and the common right of access to all natural (undeveloped) areas is a privilege deeply rooted in the Finnish outdoor recreation culture. In addition, state park services are financed directly from the government budget and provided to citizens free of charge. As long as the right of public access is guaranteed, there will be substitutes available for state-owned recreation sites. Given this institutional setting, there is no tradition whereby people would pay, for example, for access to a hiking area, be it on private or public land. The recreational experience that people desire and the value they attach to it should nevertheless be taken into account in public recreation planning. The present study includes the preferences expressed by citizens in an economic analysis and uses contingent valuation (CV) to estimate the value of outdoor recreation in Finnish state-owned parks.