Willingness to pay for historic churches: evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment
Author(s): Thomas Colwill, Rory Milne, Midhuna Sajeev
This study uses an economic valuation technique known as a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) to understand people’s preferences and how much they are willing to pay for different aspects of a policy or proposal. This study is funded by the DCMS Culture and Heritage Capital (CHC) programme. Key Findings: People will pay significantly more to repair or restore a historic church. Churchgoers (users) would pay £15.40 for the restoration of a historic church building compared to only £3.80 for the restoration of a modern church. People who do not attend church regularly for worship (non-users) are also willing to pay more to restore a historic church than a modern church (£6.30 vs. £0.40). As expected, regular churchgoers are willing to pay more for the restoration of historic churches than non-users (£15.40 compared to £6.30). Out of the four improvement packages, both users and non-users valued conservation the most; they would willingly pay more for conservation compared to improved access, technology or more community activities. Interestingly, while a church's historic character impacts how people valued conservation and accessibility improvements, it has less influence on their willingness to pay for community activity improvements.
- Report Number:
- 39/2025
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 55
- Keywords:
- Place of Worship Church Heritage Culture and Heritage Capital
