Demand for the quality conservation of Venice, Italy, according to different nationalities.

This paper focuses on visitor demand for the quality conservation of Venice according to different nationalities. The vast majority of visitors to Venice are foreigners (both tourists and day-visitors) who come from all over the world. In this research they are mainly categorized as non-Italian Europeans or non-Europeans. A specific theoretical model, in which quality conservation is provided publicly and also privately through donations, is presented for nationals and for foreigners. The data are obtained from a contingent valuation survey carried out in Venice, the aim of which was to estimate visitors' willingness to donate (WTD) to the Venice flood defence programme. Demand functions are estimated by applying a twostage regression model. The authors show that the majority of visitors are willing to donate. On average, Italians and non-Europeans would donate more than non-Italian Europeans. As expected, these visitor categories have different mean WTD and different behavioural functions which are affected by attitudinal and economic variables. Bequest value is the main donation motive. Those who identify this as a donation motive, on average, state the highest WTD and the highest degree of certainty to donate. This result seems to confirm empirically the validity of the sustainable development principle applied to the management of Venice as a cultural tourist site

Provision of ecosystem services in the lagoon of Venice (Italy): an initial spatial assessment

The lagoon of Venice is a complex human–environmental system where several environmental, economic and social issues call for new integrated management perspectives. The ecosystem services approach can provide a new framework for the management of this area, and one of the first steps towards its application is ecosystem services mapping. In this work, the spatial distribution of ecosystem services in the lagoon of Venice was assessed in a qualitative way. Seven ecosystem services were chosen for the assessment: four provisioning services (aquaculture, fish and seafood, wild food and crops), two cultural services (recreation and tourism and knowledge systems) and one regulating service (erosion regulation). The services were mapped by integrating biophysical and socio-economic information, resulting in an easily understandable representation of the services provided. The ecosystem services maps were used to perform a zonal analysis, referred to the water bodies adopted in compliance with the Water Framework Directive, which allowed to identify the patterns of ecosystem services provision that characterize each water body.The lagoon of Venice is a complex human-environmental system where several environmental, economic and social issues call for new integrated management perspectives. The ecosystem services approach can provide a new framework for the management of this area, and one of the first steps towards its application is ecosystem services mapping. In this work, the spatial distribution of ecosystem services in the lagoon of Venice was assessed in a qualitative way. Seven ecosystem services were chosen for the assessment: four provisioning services (aquaculture, fish and seafood, wild food and crops), two cultural services (recreation and tourism and knowledge systems) and one regulating service (erosion regulation). The services were mapped by integrating biophysical and socio-economic information, resulting in an easily understandable representation of the services provided. The ecosystem services maps were used to perform a zonal analysis, referred to the water bodies adopted in compliance with the Water Framework Directive, which allowed to identify the patterns of ecosystem services provision that characterize each water body. (C) 2014 European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of Polish Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. All rights reserved