Non-marketable recreational use value of a beach

Within the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) framework different methods exist for evaluating the non-marketable use (present informal recreational use) of a beach in different scenarios (status quo, erosion and expansion), and a wide economic literature on this topic is available. This section of DELOS guidelines focuses on the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) in the Value Of Enjoyment (VOE) version which, within the DELOS Project, has been applied to the following Italian case-studies: Lido di Dante, on-site survey of 600 interviews; Trieste (Barcola seafront), resident survey of 600 interviews; Pellestrina, on-site and resident surveys of a total of 150 interviews; and Ostia, on-site survey of 100 interviews. After a brief description of this e valuation method, we focus on two main issues: i) the estimate of the recreational use value in different seasons, and ii) the extension of the market (or the aggregation level) which is not only national but international where the site is visited by foreigners. Conclusions highlight that in Italy visitors are sensitive to the protection of coastal sites from erosion and flooding and that the great majority of them are in favour of defence projects. The mean use values are from 5 to 28 Euros per beach visit in spring-summer.