The aim of this paper is to assess the economic value of recreation as an ecosystem
service enjoyed by hikers in Hungary’s forests. The assessment is carried out in the
framework of a national undertaking to map and assess the state of ecosystems and
their services in Hungary under the EU’s biodiversity strategy. As is common in the
policymaking context, the constraints of the project did not allow for a primary study.
We therefore rely on previous studies and combine several approaches to arrive at
a value estimate on two scales. First, we conduct a local case study, calculating
travel costs for the Pilis Biosphere Reserve, a popular hiking area where visitor
surveys are available. We then estimate the unit (value per visit) and total value
of forest recreation for the whole country by a different approach, based on foreign
studies via benefit transfer. We find that the results from the two approaches are
consistent and that the monetary value of forest recreation (in the form of hiking/walking)
is approximately 10 million EUR/year for the Pilis Biosphere Reserve and approximately
100 million EUR/year for the whole country.
