Abstract
In 1998, the Italian authorities declared the marine area around the Peninsula of Portofino, Liguria, a Marine Protected Area (MPA) covering 13 km of coastline on the north-western coast of Italy. Thus, many feared decreased local tourism and resultant economic loss due to limitations on activities within the MPA. The MPA has, however, led to an increase in scuba in the area. This research evaluates the importance of scuba divers as a source of tourism and income for the local economies surrounding the Portofino MPA. Research indicates that spending is a better criterion for analysis than numbers of visitors to an attraction or area. Therefore, understanding spending behaviour is important in influencing the benefits derived from scuba diving tourism. While scuba diving is a popular activity worldwide and a drawcard for many destinations, little research analysing their spending behaviour is available. This research was conducted at the Portofino MPA, Italy, where more than 700 questionnaires were completed during June/July 2016 with the assistance of eight of approximately 20 diving operators in the area. The results provide dive operators and the destination marketing organisation with information on specific market segments and insight into the spending behaviour of divers.
Highlights
Marine ecotourism is regarded by Sakellariadou (2014) as a rapidly growing and very profitable market of the tourism industry, which according to the author, includes scuba diving as an activity
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the importance of scuba divers as a source of tourism and income for the local economies surrounding the Portofino Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Italy. This is done by considering the following questions: (i) on what do divers spend money? (ii) What influence their spending decision? (iii) How can the tourism industry benefit from them, especially in resorts where divers seemingly have a significant impact? (iv) Are there specific segments of divers that are more worthwhile to pursue than others? The Portofino MPA was chosen because, since its establishment in 1998, it has become one of Europe’s best-known scuba diving destinations
Far more males than females form part of the diving community (68.9% compared with 31.1%), the gender distribution is more equal under the non-Italian respondents and there are even slightly more female than male divers
Summary
Marine ecotourism is regarded by Sakellariadou (2014) as a rapidly growing and very profitable market of the tourism industry, which according to the author, includes scuba diving as an activity. Varied ecosystems and cultural values (Dudley, 2008) These areas have many benefits, which is why, in the European Union (EU) alone, nearly 8 000 sites are covering an area of 338 623km , that is, 5.9% of EU waters (Russi et al, 2016). These benefits include the following: marine protected areas generate food; they contribute to mitigating climate change, create tourism and recreation opportunities; aid coastal security since they help to stabilise sediments and reduce erosion; they stimulate the local and regional economies where new and different markets are established, for example, visitors buy local food, drink, and souvenirs, while they stay in local hotels and other accommodation establishments. The MPAs help a town or region to remain competitive and protect and conserve ecosystems and the marine environment, and offer researchers opportunities to conduct research, and lend opportunities to educate and train people (Russi et al, 2016; Sakellariadou, 2014)
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