Heterogeneous visitors and the spatial limits of the travel cost model

Recently, a series of papers have attempted to accommodate the diversity of visitors in travel cost models by separating monetary outlays for recreati on into two categories: onsite costs and long distance travel costs. One of the major motivations behind these on-site cost models is to solve the pro blem of spatial limits of the travel cost model identified by Smith and Kop p (1980). This paper empirically examines if the onsite cost model effectiv ely deals with issue of spatial limits. Our findings indicate that serious spatial limits may still exist in the onsite cost model. As a feasible remedy, we propose an alternative classification of visitors. Econometric implementation of this classification scheme with data from a survey of trout fishermen in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem suggests the approach both increases the explanatory power of the onsite cost model, an d to a large extent, alleviates the spatial limits of the on-site cost appr oach.