Demand for Domestic Marine and Coastal Tourism

Domestic marine and costal tourism has increased in importance over the last number of years due to the impacts of international travel, environmental concerns, associated health benefits and COVID-19 related travel restrictions. Consequently, this paper conceptualizes domestic marine and coastal tourism within an economic framework. Two logit models examine the factors that influence participation in the coastal day trips and overnight stays markets, respectively. Two truncated travel cost models are employed to explore trip duration, one analyzing the number of day trips taken and the other examining the number of nights spent in marine and coastal areas. Although a range of variables predict participation, no one variable had a significant and consistent affect in every model. A division in access to domestic marine and coastal tourism is also observed based on variation in household income. The results also indicate a vibrant day trip market and large consumer surpluses. The decision to use logit participation models and travel cost models applied to day trips and overnight stays is a direct result of the audiences this paper aims to inform. Firstly, by presenting the decision making process for domestic marine and coastal tourism in this depth, evidence based decision makers can gather a better understanding of how domestic tourist decided to participate in marine and coastal tourism, who the larger beneficiary are of the different types of marine and coastal tourism and how policy focused solely on overnight stays can adversely affect particular segment of society, often those less well off financially. Secondly, the academic literature has presented a dearth of information comparing day trip participation to overnight stays in marine and coastal tourism, as such, this paper provides a valuable source of information.