Improving the recreational value of Ireland’s coastal resources: A contingent behavioural application $ Luke Barry, Tom M. van Rensburg n , Stephen Hynes Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit, J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland article info Available online 9 February 2011 Keywords: Contingent behaviour model Willingness to pay Coastal recreation Public access abstract This paper measures willingness to pay (WTP) for public access to additional beach area and trail improvements to a coastal recreational site in the west of Ireland. The Contingent Behaviour model is used to measure the increased number of trips associated with improved public access using a connecting trail between two beach areas along a stretch of Irish coastline. Results show that improving access through the use of the connecting trail increases consumer surplus by h111.15 per person per annum. It is argued that in designing new regulation such as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for the management of Ireland’s coastline, an understanding of the values the Irish public place on coastal recreational access will be important to manage the resource in a sustainable manner. & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction This paper reports on a study that investigates willingness to pay (WTP) for an improvement to a coastal recreational site, in the form of a cliff top walking trail that connects two beach areas in the west of Ireland. In recent years increasing demands are being made of coastal resources for a variety of recreational activities such as for walking, mountaineering, mountain biking, recreational angling and water sports [1–4]. Increased affluence, urbanisation and changing values have all combined to increase the demand for land-based recreational amenities, which are located in many coastal areas of Europe and the United States. Wilson et al. [5] point out how human beings, as welfare- maximising agents, attach positive economic values to the non-market goods and services, which the coast provides. It is therefore increasingly recognised that coastal recreational activ- ities such as walking have the potential to deliver significant economic benefits to rural areas through tourism and thereby support rural diversification, innovation and regional develop- ment. It is estimated that 510,000 individuals came to Ireland in 2007 from overseas to take part in some form of walking activity and this was estimated to be worth h340 million to the Irish economy [6]. An earlier survey in Ireland reported that 13% of the adult population (403,000) regularly uses trails and other walking paths [7]. Furthermore, more recent figures from Fa ´ ilte Ireland, the Irish tourism board, estimated that in 2008, 97,000 overseas visitors to Ireland and 1,138,000 domestic holiday makers engaged in water based recreational activities [6]. In view of the economic benefits associated with coastal leisure and tourism, policy makers both in Europe and abroad have introduced a number of initiatives to enhance coastal resources. The Marine and Coastal Access Bill in the U.K. serves as one such example [8,9]. It aims to provide public access to the length and breadth of the British coastline, which is reasonably practicable. Whilst policy makers recognise the potential benefits associated with improved coastal access and coastal amenities, rational public decision-making on financing improvements to coastal recreational amenities requires that these economic benefits should be clearly identified and valued. However, there are surprisingly few empirical studies that quantify the economic benefits associated with coastal recrea- tional trails or the welfare impact of increasing the length of beach area available to recreationists. Most previous empirical studies on valuing public access for recreation focus on agricul- tural land, forest land and protected areas [4,10–16] or they focus instead on beach use and coastal water quality improvements [1,2,17–30]. In another paper, McGonagle and Swallow, [3] singled out coastal walking trails as an important attribute that contributed positively and significantly to the welfare of recrea- tionalists. However the authors did not estimate the WTP for walking trails per se, instead, the paper examined the differences between scenic quality and ecological quality rather than the recreational values for walking. This paper seeks to extend the work of McGonagle and Swallow [3] using a contingent behaviour Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpol Marine Policy 0308-597X/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2011.01.009 $ This work was funded through the Beaufort Marine Research Award, which is carried out under the Sea Change Strategy and the Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation (2006–2013), with the support of the Marine Institute, funded under the Marine Research Sub-Programme of the National Development Plan 2007–2013. n Corresponding author. Tel.: +353 91 493858; fax: +353 91 524130. E-mail address: thomas.vanrensburg@nuigalway.ie (T.M. van Rensburg). Marine Policy 35 (2011) 764–771