Page 3 - DAGOSTARO_DONATI_2017

48° Congresso della Società Italiana di Biologia Marina
Roma, 7-9 giugno 2017
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presented a peak of respondents gathered in the two age group of 26-35 and 36-45
years old, with a mode of 45 years and a median of 38 years. The education level
observed was considered high, since the majority of respondents (52.87%) had a
university degree, while education levels corresponding to a high/secondary school of
education were 35.6%. People who travelled with family were 59.7% of the sample,
while the rest 40.3% travelled with friends. The groups were in average composed by 4
elements, couples comprised 37.5% of the sample. Regarding the visitors that lodged
on Egadi, 65.8% stayed once while 34.2% were habitually resident; regarding the daily
customers 81.4% were occasionally and 18.6% came habitually on the islands.
Seascape and landscape of the islands are central for the tourists, sure enough
snorkelling (20%) and natural beauty (17.8%) were the main cause of the tourists’
decision to travel to the Egadi. The majority of respondents (86.3%) was aware of the
presence of a MPA and 58.3% of them were aware of the MPA’s regulation. About
local flagship species, the seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile, 1813, the tourists’
answers was correct in the 62.4%, while in the 28.4% of replies it was considered a
seaweed, a marine animal (0.9%) or unknown (8.3%). Considering the establishment of
an MPA in the area, the tourists appeared to appreciate this body, because 61.3% of
people consider a priority the establishment of an MPA, while 35.7% valued it as
important. In this sense 53.4% of the visitors would be willing to leave an annual
contribute bigger than 25 € to support the MPA activities.
Conclusions - The results revealed a great difference in the socio-demographic profiles
of the MPA visitors. Tourism development in the Egadi is based on the combination of
a good environment quality and the beauty of its natural sea and landscapes. In fact,
this study shows that especially underwater sceneries were the tourists’ main
attractions and as such must be valued and preserved. In this case, the awareness and
evaluation on the MPA is rather high; so increasing the knowledge of visitors about
marine protected area activities and regulation is critical in order to enforce
environmental awareness and promote a correct behaviour when tourists visiting the
area. This information will help to evaluate the natural capital of the MPA in a context
of environmental accounting, but also to understand which uses affect them and how,
so as to quantify the extent of sustainability of management processes in MPA.

References
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