Journal of Urban Economics and Management

because of having many attractions, Mellat park in holly Mashhad is a major tourist site therefore, the study of its recreational value could be effective to Estimate the deficiencies, needs and tourism development in this park. The study was carried out to determine the leisure value of Mellat Park in holy Mashhad, and to estimate the amount of visitors willing to pay the park using contingent valuation method and the and dichotomous choice questionnaire. Target population of this study is the visitors of Mellat Park. The sample size is about 222 people that were selected by available sampling method. To investigate the effect of explanatory variables on visitors willing to pay, Logit model was used and based on the maximum reliability method, the parameters of the model was estimated. The results showed that 74.78% of those surveyed were willing to pay for recreational use of the park are people willing to pay an average visitors to the amusement park, 9849.48 rials have been obtained for each visit. The annual recreational value of it, is estimated about 2.46237 × 1010 IRR. The variables of proposed rate payment and any transportation costs, have negative effect and the variables of park quality, marital status, duration of study per week, environmental orientation and gender, have a positive effect on the willingness to pay. The results indicate that people are aware about the importance of urban parks and have a willingness to pay a substantial charge in the planning and management of the park that can be helped.