1998 Year of the Ocean Coastal Tourism and Recreation 



Hotels and Motels. In a slightly different direction, Clemson University (Department of Parks, 

 Recreation, and Tourism Management) has prepared a handbook to guide communities and their 

 tourism industries through crises of various types including those associated with natural hazards 

 such as hurricanes (Sonmez et al. ). As outlined in its introduction, this guidebook "is intended to 

 serve as a guideline to facilitate tourism recovery by protecting or rebuilding a local area's image 

 of safety and attractiveness; reassuring potential visitors of the safety of the area; reestablishing 

 the area's functionality and attractiveness; and aiding the local travel and tourism industry 

 members in their economic recovery efforts" (Sonmez et al., p. v). 



FINDINGS 



As detailed above, coastal tourism and recreation involve major economic activity in U.S. 

 coastal and ocean areas, and must be planned and managed with special care to insure that the 

 environmental quality on which coastal tourism and recreation depend is maintained and 

 enhanced. Major findings and areas of future work are summarized below: 



1. Economic importance of coastal tourism and recreation. Coastal tourism and recreation 

 provide a huge positive economic benefit in the United States, both in terms of jobs and earnings 

 and in terms of balance of payments and governmental revenues. As discussed, over 90 percent 

 of foreign tourism spending is concentrated in coastal states where beaches are the leading 

 tourism destination (Houston, 1996). For example, Miami Beach reported more tourist visits (21 

 million) than were made to any National Park Service property (Houston, 1995). The federal 

 government, moreover, receives about 6 times as much tax revenues annually from foreign 

 tourism spending at Miami Beach than it spends to restore beaches in the entire nation (Houston, 

 1996). Yet, these values often go unrecognized, and are not the subject of concerted attention by 

 federal, state, and local policymakers. 



2. There is little information on marine and coastal tourism. There is no systematic collection 

 of data and information on the magnitude, nature, and economic and social impacts of tourism 

 and recreation in the nation's coastal zone. This is, in part, responsible for a general under- 

 appreciation of this set of activities and for the failure to devote adequate planning and 

 management attention to the relevant issues that are raised for coastal tourism and recreation. To 

 properly guide coastal tourism in a sustainable development manner, better data focused on 

 coastal and marine areas will be needed. The types of information needed include: 



• Systematic collection and interpretation of coastal tourism data on a coastal county 

 basis; 



• Collection and interpretation of data on coastal and marine recreation activities; 



• Expansion of existing databases, such as, for example, the Sea Grant Coastal 

 Recreation and Tourism web service (organized by Oregon State University, in 

 collaboration with many other Sea Grant programs); 



F-19 



