Attitudes toward fees and perceptions of costs of participating in day-use outdoor recreation

Personal interviews were conducted at day use areas on six recreation sites in South Carolina. This was the second of two planned surveys on the sites, and its purpose was to provide insight into attitudes toward fees, and perceptions of costs of participating in day-use outdoor recreation activities. The first survey was conducted in 1998 and collected information about what participants liked and disliked about the sites. The first survey did not mention fees, but included open-ended questions in which participants could cite fees and other costs if they considered them important. Participants who appeared sensitive to costs tended to have lower incomes than those who were not sensitive to costs. In contrast to the first survey, the second asked specific questions about attitudes toward and consideration of fees and other costs. This paper compares the two surveys and presents results from the 2002 survey. Although the two surveys were conducted the same way and at the same time of the year, there were several important differences in responses to them. The response rate for the 2002 survey was about 65%, considerably less than the 89% rate for the 1998 survey. Total number of respondents was 604 in 1998 and 98 in 2002. The lower response rate and number of respondents was due, in part, to changes in the sampling methodology, characteristics of sites, fee structures, and weather. However, much of the difference in response to the two surveys remains unexplained.