Abstract: Travel Cost Method (TCM), one of the most popular methods in evaluating recreation value, is widely applied in the evaluation of tourist destination, especially for tourism resources. As an important basis for decision-making, the evaluation results of TCM greatly improve the effectiveness of policies. According to the theories and basic models of TCM, this paper summarizes the application scope of TCM in China and abroad, discusses the progress, problems and improvement of TCM in China, and puts forward the prospect of TCM in recreation value evaluation in China.