Visitors' Preferences for Freshwater Amenity Characteristics: Implications from the U.S. Household Survey

We employed spectral analysis of completely ranked U.S. household survey data on freshwater recreation to understand visitorsÕ preferences for freshwater amenity characteristicsÑcloseness, water quality, wildlife, and sizeÑand used rank-ordered and multinomial logit models to identify factors affecting their ranking choices. Spectral analysis of amenity characteristics reveals that closeness is the most preferred amenity characteristic and that the combination of closeness and size is the most preferred combination of amenity characteristics in freshwater recreation. Results from the rank-ordered and multinomial logit models suggest that amenity characteristics choices vary significantly among visitors based on their activity choices and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.