Abstract

Recreational SCUBA diving is an important source of economic activity and foreign exchange in the Caribbean. However this industry is threatened by the degradation of coral reefs across the region. Visiting divers have specific preferences for site attributes and quality that determine their choice of destination. Perceptions of reef quality are likely to play an important role in determining the satisfaction received during a dive and ultimately a diver's willingness to pay to access specific reef sites. Diver preferences therefore determine the demand for specific reefs and a decline in diver satisfaction could have severe economic implications for tourism-dependent communities. In this study, undertaken between 2007 to 2011, over 200 recreational divers were interviewed in two Caribbean nations that differ in their tourism market, geography and gross domestic product, to obtain a better understanding of the reef attributes that are important to diver satisfaction in the Caribbean. The relationship between diver attributes (demographics and dive experience), their perceptions of reef quality (coral cover, number of fish encountered, diversity, water clarity and level of crowding) and their willingness to pay is explored. The data presented here represent some of the preliminary results from the economic valuation research within the Future of Reefs in a Changing Environment (FORCE) project. Results will assist policy makers to achieve more economic and environmentally sustainable outcomes by highlighting the reef characteristics that have a greater impact on diver satisfaction and therefore, on future tourism revenues.