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German national parks are increasingly under pressure from land use change and need objective information on economic values associated with different forms of use to help policy-makers resolve conflicting policy goals. To date, a complete cost–benefit analysis of a German national park has not been undertaken. This paper addresses this gap through a study from the Bavarian Forest National Park (BFNP), the oldest and best known park in Germany. The research questions are: (1) Is the designation of the national park economically justified? and (2) Can revenue from park tourism compensate for its costs? Databases used include a visitor and enterprise survey, qualitative interviews and secondary sources; analyses involved several interrelated environmental valuation methods. Results suggest that the BFNP is an economically favourable land use option under most scenarios. At national level, half of the …