Valuation of Recreational Sites in Tanzania: The Case of Coco Beach, Dar es Salaam

Abstract

Coco beach is the public beach with no entrance fee unlike other beaches such as South and Kunduchi beaches and all others which are enclosed by the beach hotels. The beach is dirty and prone to pollutions which reduce its attractiveness to the people. It is then important to ascertain value in order to maintain the environmental quality and avoid the irreversible damage. Non-market valuations have become increasingly important for placing monetary values for the environmental goods and services. The specified techniques for placing monetary values to recreational sites have been set to obtain recreational benefits in which case Travel Cost Method (TCM) and Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) were used. The main objective of this study is to value recreational sites in Tanzania with Coco beach being the specific site for valuation. The CVM analysis showed that the majority of the visitors were willing to contribute financially to the improvement of the beach. The value of recreational benefits per year as obtained in TCM was found out to be Tshs 20,427,200,000 while the annual value of recreational benefit as per CVM was obtained as Tshs 381,534,060. The study concluded that this beach needs some improvements to make its surroundings attractive. The beach should also be conserved, preserved and properly managed. Also all the beaches in the country have to be developed as they can significantly contribute to the growth of tourism sector and economy at large.