Social Value of Nature Amenities: WTP for the Use of Public Seasides

Abstract

The value of seaside tourism, its economic dimension, are generated above all by the competitiveness of the coast, especially in sandy beaches, surrounded by valuable landscape contexts, and well connected in terms of services, accessibility, accessibility, and degree of “amenities”. Some parts of the coastal strips are less accessible, due to naturalistic reasons (Sites of community importance, marine parks, protected areas), geomorphological (risk-related problems) and infrastructural (barriers such as the railway line, or the high waterfront); others, on the other hand, enjoy good accessibility, are close to bathing services. In addition to accessibility and support services, the most relevant “physical” indicator is that relating to the ability to accommodate bathers, ensuring the sustainability of the effects on the environment, and social equity. This latter aspect represents a peculiarity of the Italian system of coastal management, as the edge of the coastline is public property, by Constitutional Law, and granted to entrepreneurs through the payment of a fee. The very low value of this Italian form of taxation, however, does not repay the use of natural resources, and often conflicts with European directives (in this case the Bolkenstein Directive) which obliges member states to make a selection among requests for granting the public beach, based on environmental and socio-economic criteria.