Tourist evaluation of olu deniz beach (turkey) using contingent valuation and travel cost approaches

The perceptions of, reasons for use and a valuation of Olu Deniz beach, Turkey, were determined from a questionnaire survey. Results for all three characteristics were found to give good agreement with previous studies. Seventy four percent of the respondents were British, 20 percent Turkish and the rest were of European extraction. The Travel Cost incurred for foreign tourists (mainly British) was found to be £281 per trip or around £4.7 million p.a. for the annual use of the beach. The Consumer Surplus calculated from this Travel Cost data is £0.63 per visit to the beach. The amount tourists were willing to pay to improve the quality of their experience was £0.94 per beach visit or £0.12 million p.a. for this beach, using the Contingent Valuation Method. Beach users preferred to pay on a per visit basis at the beach visited. This may expose a belief held by those sampled, that any increased general taxation revenue supposedly raised for environmental improvements would not actually be spent on such activities. The beach has restricted access, which would facilitate such a payment method, but Turkish law would need to be amended to allow charging those using the beach. This payment would not pose a problem for tourists.