The Impact of Abolishing Cultural Heritage Visitation Fees on National Park Attendance: A Perspective on Government-Funded Payments for Ecosystem Services
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This study examines the visitor-demand impact of a government-funded payment for ecosystem services policy applied to cultural heritage sites. In May 2023, South Korea abolished cultural heritage visitation fees at national-park temples. This policy shift replaced a decades-long user-pay model with government compensation to temples, effectively transitioning to a government-funded PES framework. The reform aimed to resolve protracted social conflict over fee collection at trailheads serving both religious and recreational visitors. Utilizing monthly visitation data spanning January 2020 to December 2024 (N = 960 site-months), we employed a difference-in-differences design with propensity score matching to compare eight treated temple sites against eight matched controls. The results indicate that fee abolition produced a statistically significant average increase of approximately 14,229 monthly visitors per treated site. The results proved robust across five distinct model specifications, and event-study analysis confirmed that the parallel trends assumption was satisfied. These findings provide quasi-experimental evidence that removing price barriers at heritage sites substantially increases observed visitor demand, a necessary condition for enhanced public accessibility to cultural ecosystem services. Whether this demand increase translates into broader welfare gains, such as regional economic spillovers, improved visitor well-being, or long-term fiscal sustainability of the subsidy, remains an important question for future research.
Source: Land
DOI: 10.3390/land15061073
Authors: Chi-Ok Oh, Bryan R. Oh
Institution: Chonnam National University
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,137
OpenAlex ID: W7165029252