How much is a clean beach worth? The impact of litter on beach users in the Cape Peninsula, South Africa

Stranded and discarded litter detracts from the aesthetic quality of beache s, and the quantities of litter on South African beaches continue to increa se. We estimate the deterrent effect this has on beach users, and the conse quent effect on the regional economy. An interview survey was used to deter mine the importance of beach cleanliness to local and non-local beach users . Cleanliness was stated as the most important factor in influencing choice of beach, especially by foreign tourists. Almost half the respondents from the Cape Metropolitan Region are prepared to spend more than seven times t he average trip cost to visit clean beaches. Furthermore, up to 97% of the value of these beaches could be lost by a drop in standards of cleanliness. Litter densities of more than 10 large items per metre of beach would dete r 40% of foreign tourists, and 60% of domestic tourists interviewed, from r eturning to Cape Town. The impact of this on the regional economy could be a loss of billions of rands each year. A Travel Cost approach estimated the total annual recreational value of selected beaches in the Cape Peninsula, South Africa, at between R3 million and R23 million. The large variation i s due to a number of assumptions inherent to the Travel Cost Method, and ex trapolations from the limited data available. Beach cleaning within the Cap e Metropolitan Region is clearly necessary, however, expenditure during the study period (R3 million in 1994-95) is high in relation to the recreation al value, and alternative methods of reducing debris at source are required to improve beach cleanliness.