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48° Congresso della Società Italiana di Biologia Marina
Roma, 7-9 giugno 2017
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R. D’AGOSTARO, S. DONATI*, R. CHEMELLO

Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare (DiSTeM), Università di Palermo,
Via Archirafi, 20 - 90123 Palermo, Italia.
riccardo_dagostaro@yahoo.it
*Area Marina Protetta Isole Egadi, P.zza Europa, 3 - Favignana (TP), Italia.

TOURIST’S PROFILE IN THE EGADI ISLAND’S MARINE PROTECTED
AREA AS BASELINE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING

CARATTERIZZAZIONE DEI TURISTI DELL’AREA MARINA PROTETTA
ISOLE EGADI COME BASE PER LA CONTABILITÀ AMBIENTALE

Abstract - Tourism plays a significant role in the economy of archipelagos and islands. The Egadi Islands
MPA has a great potential for tourism, offering multiple attractions, both natural and cultural, creating a
big challenge for a sustainable tourism management. This study was conducted through a face-to-face
survey, during high tourist season, to examines stakeholder’s socio-demographic profile, knowledge,
attitudes and perceptions towards MPA and its management activities. This study revealed that tourist’s
profile (educational, economical, etc.) and their environmental awareness was mostly higher. The
information obtained allows concentrating efforts to develop actions useful to maintain the natural capital
of the Egadi as a tourist competitive destination of quality.

Key-words: marine parks, tourism, management, socioeconomic aspects.

Introduction - Tourism is of growing importance for many nations and an economic
value for the host country (Branchini et al., 2015). In small islands it is highly
dependent on the quality of the marine and coastal environment, and the analysis of the
stakeholder's profile can provide valuable insights for local government and managers
of protected areas (Pomeroy et al., 2005). Despite many authors discussed the
importance of the role played by stakeholders in achieving successful MPAs, few
socioeconomic or cultural studies have been conducted on the impact of MPAs on local
populations and visitors (Badalamenti et al., 2000). Nowadays, environmental
accounting approach can be a useful tool to integrate the socioeconomic and cultural
factors into all decisions made regarding MPAs management. Identify the uses and the
impacts exerted by the stakeholders in the area, in order to identify the value of
environmental resources by adopting an anthropocentric approach, is becoming an
integral component of MPA management.
Materials and methods - This study was conducted on MPA of Egadi Islands
(western Sicily) in 2015-2016, within the “Environmental Accountability project” on
several stakeholder’s profile, like divers, bathing tourists and pleasure-boat owners.
The perceptions of stakeholders towards objectives, results and management of the
MPA were studied through face-to-face interviews to identify areas of agreement and
disagreement. This surveys allowed to understand who are, where do they come from,
their knowledge on the protected area values and rules, how much the MPA is
important in their decision to come and if it improves their experience, how they reach
and what they used to move inside the island, how much and for what they spent.
Results - Overall, 287 tourists visiting the Egadi Islands MPA were interviewed. The
sample obtained showed that female outnumbered the male (53.5% female, 46.5%
male). The ages of respondents ranged between 15 and 70 years old, and the sample

40 Volume pre-print