The Influence of Environmental Value Orientations on the Overall Scuba Diving Experience within a Marine Protected Area

This paper reports on the findings of a discrete choice experiment that aims to value the different attributes of the scuba diving experience in the Portofino Marine Protected Area (MPA), taking into account the various environmental value orientations of the divers. The attributes were divided into five different qualities-water visibility, diver crowding, species diversity, species number, and the willingness to pay-whereas the general awareness of consequences scale measured value orientations. Using a self-administered choice questionnaire, divers were asked to state their choice from different sets of attributes. A sample of 556 completed questionnaires were collected, with each respondent answering two random choice cards representing a choice between two different sets of attributes. A multinomial logit model was used to estimate scuba divers' willingness to pay for the various environmental attributes. The findings show that the most valued attribute for scuba divers in the Portofino MPA is underwater visibility followed by a less crowded dive site. The divers are predominantly egoistic in their value orientation, indicating that pro-environmental behaviour and intentions stem from self-interest. Regulations and education programmes that emphasise direct benefits to divers' diving experience would therefore encourage pro-environmental behaviour.