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Assessment of the sustainability of sensitive ecosystems. Application in Balos Lagoon

Skarakis Nikolaos

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Summary

Sensitive ecosystems play a major role in the future of the environment, economy and society, as they affect and mitigate natural hazards, provide food, energy and medicinal resources, a plethora of employment jobs, as well as cultural and recreational services. Meanwhile, the rapidly growing nature-based tourism is applying unsustainable pressures on such ecosystems, prioritizing the assessment of their sustainability, i.e., environmental, economic and social functionality. To ensure the long-term development and conservation of an ecosystem, benefits from the natural capital must be valued and included in a management plan. This project aims to assess the sustainability of Balos lagoon, a NATURA 2000 site and highly visited tourist attraction in Crete, Greece. The Zonal Travel Cost Method (ZTCM), along with Willingness to Pay (WTP), were utilized as economic valuation methods for non-market goods. The analysis provided useful insight into the visitors’ profile, as well as three different models that relate the price of an Entrance Fee to the percentage of visitors, based on travel costs to the beach (TC model), travel costs including the opportunity cost of time (TTC model) and visitors’ stated preference (WTP model).The results of the survey indicate that Balos attracts young, highly educated visitors, travelling from Europe with their partners for leisure. Their choice of transport is evenly split between sea and land transport, with a larger percentage of those who travel by cruise to the beach suggesting a higher ticket price. The sensitivity analysis performed shows that of all three models, TTC is the most stable to changes in key parameters, making the cost of time an important factor in the analysis. The majority of visitors suggested that access to the beach should be free. Comparing the models, the WTP predicts a 60-70% reduction in tourist flow with a EUR 5 ticket charge, while the ZTCM models agree on a 40% reduction for this amount. Furthermore, the consumer surplus was estimated at EUR 9.90,15.42 and 17.74 EUR/visitor by the WTP, TC and TTC model respectively, indicating that visitors benefit much more than what they actually pay.Finally, it appears that the implementation of a higher entrance fee can help control the tourist flow without reducing annual revenues. This information can be incorporated into the development of a sustainable management plan and the design of tourism packages for Balos Lagoon.

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