Valuing scenic views in coastal tourism in Italy.

Abstract

Aesthetic landscape features may be measured by monetary units in market goods boosting economic activity, in particular in coastal tourism. Apart from the estimation of environmental and cultural non-market values, this empirical study demonstrates how scenic views affect the demand for coastal tourism in Italy. By using the hedonic pricing method, this paper investigates the extent to which relevant criteria involving agritourism, natural parks, vicinity to the beach as well as entertainments and transportation infrastructure impact demand for coastal tourism in a positive or negative direction considering regional diversity of Italian coastal areas by market segmentation.