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An economic analysis of water use in the Scotland river basin district |
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2.4 Amenity and recreation There are a wide range of recreational and amenity uses of water resources. In order to consider a number of different areas, this category has been broken down into contribution to tourism and water-dependent visitor attractions, water-dependent recreation, non-water-dependent recreation, waterside amenity navigation and ecosystem services.
Scotland is a significant tourist destination. In 2002, tourists made over 20 million trips to Scotland, spending £4,494 million (VisitScotland, annual statistics). Of these visitors, 18.5 million were from the UK, although the average length of stay and expenditure was much higher from those from further afield. For both UK and overseas visitors, the ‘urban’ type of tourism offered by Edinburgh and the Glasgow area comprises the main attraction. Nevertheless, the more ‘natural’ setting offered by the Highlands makes them the third more visited destination in the country. This, together with the importance of outdoor leisure activities such as walking and hiking, swimming, nature study, fishing, visiting theme and activity parks, suggests that the natural environment is a significant and positive element of Scottish tourism. In a survey of French, Spanish and German visitors, 47% of those surveyed stated that landscape, countryside and scenery were the main influence on their choice to holiday in Scotland, with 10% specifically mentioning lochs and rivers (Visit Scotland and SNH, 2002).
There are a wide range of recreational activities that rely on water. This includes activities on outdoor water bodies, such as jet-skiing, kayaking, rafting, windsurfing, yachting and angling, as well as activities that abstract and discharge water. Although those taking part in many of these activities are not charged for water use, they can have an impact on the economy through spending. Activities that use outdoor water bodies, either inland or coastal waters, are affected by a number of features of the water body. In particular, bathing and paddling are influenced by water quality. The blue flag standard is a symbol of environmental quality as well as sanitary and safety facilities at beaches and marinas in Europe and South Africa. Thus the award increasingly reveals more than just the quality of the bathing water, although it is imperative that water quality is compliant with the requirements of the EU Bathing Water Directive (76/160/EEC) concerning total contaminants. Of the 105 blue flag beaches and 12 marinas in the UK, four beaches and one marina are in Scotland. Swimming pools are slightly different to the activities that use natural water bodies, since they abstract and discharge water, altering the chemical composition of the water between times. Another indoor recreational activity using water is for indoor ski slopes and ice rinks. This is considered to be a relatively limited use, both in terms of the number of facilities and the volume of water used in each facility. Winter activities such as skiing make use of water but as it does not effect individual water bodies or influence water quality it is not included in the analysis
Within Scotland, there are 36,650 km of river designated under the Freshwater Fish Directive, the vast majority (36,580 km) of which is designated as salmonid fisheries. Of the salmonid designated rivers, 770 km failed to meet water quality requirements in 2002, with no failures of cyprinid designated rivers. Angling contributed over £112 million to the Scottish economy in 200319.
There are a number of ports around the coast of Scotland and on the islands, with Forth, Sullom Voe, Orkney and Clyde each handling more than 10 million tonnes of freight traffic in 2001. In total, 119.6 million tonnes of freight used the main ports in 2001, with crude oil (78.8 million tonnes), oil products (11.0 million tonnes), and coal (6.7 million tonnes) accounting for the greatest proportions. A much smaller amount of freight (11.4 million tonnes) was carried for part of its journey on inland waterways, of which the majority used the Forth.
Waterside amenity includes those individuals who chose to walk or spend time near to rivers, lochs or the coast because of the aquatic scenery. It also includes the higher value of property associated with a waterside location. For the purposes of this report, evidence has not been sought, but when such work is undertaken it is expected to be locally specific.
Life on earth depends on the ability of the environment to provide essential services, recycling wastes and nutrients, providing fresh water, clean air and so on. During 2002 estimates were made to quantify in monetary terms the benefits that the earth’s ecosystem services within Scotland provide. This work20 generated an estimate of the annual value of approximately £17 billion, of which more than £3 billion was directly attributable to lochs, rivers and estuaries. In many cases the value of these benefits is utilised by industrial sectors and becomes embodied in their final products. In others, the benefits are enjoyed by the population at large or by recreational users of the environment.
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