Willingness to pay for landscape protection and preservation : the case of Manoel island

Abstract

The main aim of this dissertation is to examine individuals’ willingness to pay for landscape protection and preservation. This premise is assessed on the case of the proposed development at Manoel Island. By making use of a Contingent Valuation Survey, respondents are asked to indicate the maximum amount of money that they are willing to pay (WTP) for the protection of landscape, subject to a hypothetical market. The findings from this research suggest that individuals are on average WTP €4.40 as an entrance fee to Manoel Island if the site is not developed but instead, managed by an NGO. The results have also highlighted that the majority of the respondents stated a positive WTP value suggesting, that landscape protection and preservation is vital to the Maltese population. In this analysis, it was also found that Education, Locality, Gender and Income are significant determinates of WTP.