Impacts of jellyfish presence on tourists’ holiday destination choices and their willingness to pay for mitigation measures

Abstract

Recurrent jellyfish blooms in tourist areas have negative effects on coastal and national economies. We investigate how jellyfish presence affects holiday destination choice and how the adoption of mitigation measures can reduce impacts through analyzing tourists’ preferences. A Discrete Choice Experiment approach was adopted to assess tourists’ willingness to pay for different measures. Results indicate that in scenarios of increased jellyfish numbers, 24–40% of tourists might not choose to return to a destination affected by jellyfish. Results also indicate that the adoption of measures such as jellyfish information provision, warning flags, health service presence or the deployment of jellyfish exclusion nets could reduce the proportion of non-returning tourists by 66–83%. Regarding preferences, tourists are willing to pay higher amounts for measures that provide the highest protection. We conclude that the implementation of preventive management plans should be considered by coastal administrations to promote a sense of safety among tourists and residents alike.