Estimating the Recreational Value and Determining Effective Parameters on Willingness to Pay of Saint Stephanus Church Visitors by applying Two Stages Heckman Approach

Saint Stephanus church is one of the famous churches of North-West of Iran located in boarder ofAras River. Mentioned place is one the tourism and promenade zone in East Azerbaijan province that has incredible potential and capacities due to its environmental perspective and recreational aspect. So, investigating recreational value of this place could be useful in predicting needs, removing scarcities and development of tourism industry in East Azerbaijan province. The main characteristic of present study was separating effective parameters for existence of recreational value and wtp levels by applying two stages Heckman approach. Requested data set were obtained by completing questionnaires and interviewing with 317 individuals who visit mentioned church in 2008. Results revealed that variables include revenues, education, family size and dummy variable of sex were effective on existing of wtp and variables such as revenues, family size, education, age and dummy variable of satisfying with welfare facilities were dominant on wtp level. Mean wtp for each visitor acquired 4800 RLs per year and annual recreational value of Saint Stephanos church was 1344 million RLs.