| By: |
Mikołaj Czajkowski (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw);
Marianne Zandersen (Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University);
Uzma Aslam (Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University; Iqra University Islamabad Campus);
Ioannis Angelidis (Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University);
Thomas Becker (Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University);
Wiktor Budziński (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw);
Katarzyna Zagórska (Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw) |
| Abstract: |
The Baltic Sea plays a significant role for recreational use in the nine
littoral countries with more than 70% of the population visiting the coast,
representing some 80 million recreation visits annually. Understanding the
values associated with coastal recreation and the potential welfare changes of
improving the state of the Baltic Sea is important for managing the marine
environment. We estimate a spatially explicit travel cost model of coastal
site recreation to the Baltic Sea to assess the welfare of accessing
individual sites, identify recreational hotspots and simulate the welfare
changes resulting from improving environmental and infrastructure conditions.
The total benefits associated with the Baltic Sea based recreation amount to
11.4 billion EUR per year with significant variation across sites. Improving
water quality and infrastructure boost the recreational value by nearly 9
billion EUR, almost doubling the recreational benefits compared to current
conditions. |
| Keywords: |
Recreational benefits, Site choice, Random Utility Model, Baltic Sea, Blue Flag |
| JEL: |
L83 Q26 Q51 |
| Date: |
2018 |
| URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2018-11&r=dcm |