Résumé
Natural areas are multifunctional, contributing through multiple ways to human well-being. Ecosystem goods and services are provided through ecosystem functions (regulation, habitat, production and information). Among the multiple services pro- vided by natural areas, recreational services are increasingly valuable. The main objective of our paper is to estimate the recreation value (use value) of natural areas whilst using the Travel Cost Method (TCM). The recreation use value is measured in terms of visitors’ Willingness To Pay (WTP) or Consumer Surplus (CS). For natural resource managers, the value assigned provides essential information about the economic value of the natural resources of the sites that is not revealed by market exchanges. To estimate the recreation value, we apply the TCM to evaluate the recreation demand within the Département de l’Hérault (Hérault Department, France) / Conseil Général du Département de l’Hérault (CG34) “Espaces Naturels Sensibles” (ENS) public policy. Our …rst contribution is a methodological one and consists in the way we consider the ENS public policy. We apply the TCM to seven areas, assuming they constitute the same and single site characterizing the ENS diversity.We suppose that these seven chosen areas are well representing the whole ENS of the Department, in terms of recre- ational use, landscapes and environmental goods provided. It may be discussed to allow a single value ; however this is the most e¢ cient way to capture the ENS heterogeneity. Our second contribution is to highlight one dimension of the potential bene…ts regard- ing recreation through the ENS conservation policy in a Cost-Bene…t Analysis (CBA) whilst measuring the direct use value by visitors. We apply the individual approach of the TCM, based on an on-site survey, and we get the CS mean value estimated at e58.82 from e34.60 to e83.04 per visitor and per trip. Our third contribution is …nally to complete the set of empirical environmental non market valuation analyses carried out in France.