Economic valuation of the cultural heritage: application to four case studies in Spain

Abstract

Heritage and culture are two important components of the leisure sector. This leads to the question of how such non-market goods may be valued. In this paper we have opted for the travel cost method, widely used in the valuation of natural assets, to estimate the demand curve. Using this method, it was possible to calculate the consumer surplus value of four different cultural goods or services in the Castilla y León region of Spain. The four cases studied included a cultural artistic event, a village comprising an historic ensemble, a museum located in a provincial capital and a cathedral representing an example of a historic monument.