Brighton Beach is about 20 km from Dunedin, attracting thousands of visitors for swimming, surfing, boating, fishing and much more over the summer. Brighton Surf Life Saving has over 60 active volunteers, penguins nest on the rock to the right and sea lions frequently visit.

Can we estimate the value of Brighton Beach? Summer student Stella is asking people how far they travel, and how often they usually visit during a year. The survey has also been advertised via social media. Associate Professor Murat Genc will be doing the statistical analysis.

The idea is that people who travel from far away visit less often (because their cost of travel is high), but people who live around the corner, visit often (because their travel cost is low).

If we interview enough people (and so far we have collected over 300 responses), and take account of some of their characteristics such as age and income, we can estimate a demand curve: the travel cost becomes the price, and the number of trips taken is the quantity. The value of Brighton Beach will be represented by the area under the demand curve. Amazing! It’s called a TRAVEL COST STUDY. It only captures a very small fraction of the overall value, but it’s a start.