Although a number of studies demon- strate active human use of the rain forest, thereare surprisingly few economic stud- ies quantifying thestanding value of rain forests. One noticeable exception is a study by Peters et al. (1) which analyzes value of the fruit and latex extracted from a plot of primary growth Amazonian rain forest
in Peru. The present paper addresses another value of conserving rain forest, the re-
creation value. Specifically, this study measures the eco-tourism value to do- mestic
users of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve in Costa Rica. Although the
recreational value of numerous sites in developed countries has been determined in
the last quarter century, this is the first study we know of which values a tropical rain forest or a natural site in a developing nation. This study applies the well known travel cost method (2-4) to measure recreation values. The travel cost method estimates the value users place upon a site they visit from their travel behavior. Thus, the technique does