Recreational Values and Factors that Correlate with the Use of Coastal Beaches in Cameroon: Statistical Reasoning in Psychometric Models

Abstract

Coastal recreations in South Western Cameroon are a representative ecosystem critically important for global climate change, biodiversity and local livelihoods of indigenous communities. In order to increase awareness of the significance of these resources in the stability of ecosystem functions, a cross sectional survey applying statistical reasoning in psychometric models was used to estimate the recreational value and predict the factors influencing visitors’ willingness to pay for such recreations, taking Seme beach as an example. The model development involved two major tasks: (i) the construction of data collection instruments (questionnaire) and (ii) the development of procedures for measurement. Binary logistic regression was conducted to isolate factors that correlate with visitors’ willingness to pay for 180 visitors using age, gender, occupation, income, distance, education and family size as predictors. Overall, the mean willingness to pay was estimated at FCFA 1, 851.2 ($3.4)/household/month. The amounts visitors were willing to pay varied significantly amongst age groups, χ2(8, N = 180) = 50.312, p = .000; income groups, χ2(12, N = 180) = 28.203, p = 0.005; and educational attainment, χ2(12, N = 180) = 22.584, p = .031. Visitors residing closer to the area (M = 6.23, SD = 0.94) were significantly more willing to pay than those further away (M = 5.87, SD = 1.29), t(178) = 2.71, p = .007. A test of the full logistic model against a constant only model was statistically significant, indicating that, the predictors, as a set, reliably distinguished between acceptors and decliners of the offer χ2 (2, N = 180) = 25.685, p =.005). Nagelkerke’s R2 of .783 indicated a moderately strong relationship between prediction and grouping. Prediction success overall was 71.1% (80.7% for decliners and 57.0% for acceptors). The findings could be a valuable asset to stakeholders with professional interest in outdoor recreation and ecosystem management, while identifying research needs for the future.