Country borders and the value of scuba diving in an estuary
2020
Rousseau, Sandra | Tejerizo Fuertes, Anthony
In the face of restricted budgets, it is worthwhile to explore whether domestic and non-domestic users would be willing to contribute to the cost of managing natural areas. Specifically, we investigate preferences of Dutch and Belgian divers for a trip to the Oosterschelde, an estuary in the Netherlands close to Belgium. The travel cost estimates based on day trips reveal a consumer surplus of 108 and 197 euro per diving trip for Dutch and Belgian divers respectively. This leads to an estimated total access value of 21.7 million euro per year for recreational diving in the Oosterschelde. The choice experiment reveals little difference between preferences for dive characteristics of Dutch and Belgian respondents, with the exception of the presence of having a pub nearby and the difficulty of the dive. Yet, overall Belgian respondents have a higher willingness for diving in the Oosterschelde than Dutch respondents. While payment schemes, such as diving tags, can be interesting options for the agency to finance management of natural areas, limited public support and high administrative costs may be important obstacles.
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