Abstract:

This paper is a review of non-use values of tourism resources evaluation at home and abroad. According to the time sequence, we discuss the progress in tourism resources non-use value studies from research process and phase characteristics, research area and research object. The results show that: foreign research has experienced three stages, namely, starting, exploring in depth, and enhancing; research objects mainly are national (forest) parks, marine protected areas, nature reserves, cultural heritage areas, islands and etc.; the research contents cover those from admission fees to the willingness to pay for non-use value of tourism resources and assessment correction; the research methods include hypothetical market approach, economic model test metrology and others. There exist significant gaps between the research in China and that in foreign countries. In China, the study objects mainly are natural resources; the research field is narrow relatively; the research method is mainly contingent valuation, which is relatively single, and whose applicability is inadequate. We put forward three suggestions for future research in China: expanding research area and field, improving the reliability of the research methods and enhancing the applied and practical research, so as to coordinate the development and protection of tourism resource, and realize tourism sustainable development.

Key words: tourism resource, non-use value