Estimating economic values for beach and foreshore assets and preservation against future climate change impacts in Victoria, Australia

Determining social values for protecting coastal assets, including coastal parks, beaches and foreshores, is important because of potential losses with climate change impacts. In a case study application in Victoria, Australia, the travel cost method was applied to value the use of camping parks by visitors, and the choice modelling technique was applied to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) of visitors and residents to avoid future losses in foreshore campground access and beach width, through protection and adaptation efforts. While both visitors and residents had similar values for park and campsite, and beach protection, residents valued beach protection as more important whereas visitors placed greater importance in protecting parks and campsites. Visitor values were higher for sites and beaches closer to metropolitan Melbourne. These results provide government agencies and coastal managers with better information about protection values for low lying coastal assets and will enable more informed decisions to be made about investing in coastal protection and the management of specific resources in the face of sea level rise and climate threats.