Recreational sightseeing has already become an important content of modern people' life.With intensive and diversified natural and cultural landscapes,such as forest,rare animal species,folk customs of many minorities,Lotus Mountain National Nature Reserve is of high tourist value.Proper evaluation of its recreational value is essential for the reasonable development and protection of its resources,the sustainable utilization and development of its environment and resources.Questionnaires and Expenditure Method were applied in this study for the monetization assessment of the recreational value of Lotus Mountain National Nature Reserve,which was obtained as 703 050 Yuan(RMB)in 2009.By not considering the factors not mentioned in the calculation and possible errors,such a result implied a relatively high recreational value.Given the fact that its recreational value has been influenced by diversified factors such as time,domestic and global tourism development,tourism policies,tourism planning,construction and management of the nature reserve,the authors suggested that the recreational value of Lotus Mountain National Nature Reserve could be promoted by improving its tourist facilities and enhancing the propagation.
