Feeling stressed? Perhaps all you need is a spa day or 2 … maybe even a week. And sometimes Mother Nature has the best idea: a spa treatment in the great outdoors.
That's what I found on a trip this past week into the remote winter wilds of Montanawhere hot springs abound, as does the added bonus of being in a state that recently cracked the top 5 in the happiest states index. Maybe being the sixth-least populated state has something to do with Big Sky Country's "happy" distinction, along with the lack of cellphone coverage, which can't help but turn a traveler's attention toward the grand, majestic show all around — the expansive mountain ranges that make up this stretch of the Rocky Mountains, with stories of mountain men and Native American tribes finding reprieve from wind-bitten days in soothing, mineral-rich waters by the base of mountains.
That's where hot springs come in, lots of them. The western third of Montana is where visitors will find the most accessible, and inviting, geothermal wonders, emerging just below the surface with temperatures anywhere from 85 to 140 degrees.
In this stretch of Big Sky, Native Americans often wintered near hot springs, something noted by an early white pioneer, who saw more than 1,000 teepees gathered around a hot spring near current-day Big Timber, MT. Meanwhile, Lewis and Clark were probably the first European settlers to happen upon Montana's hot springs, having camped near Lolo Hot Springs and boiled meat in Jackson Hot Springs in 1805 and 1806. Generations to come brought more trappers, miners and explorers to the primitive spring pools. And now come the city dwellers, like me.
Sure, a spa chain membership sounds great, but it's nothing like this. You can't beat the feeling of being immersed in a giant, mystical wonderland, in all its icy glory, high up in the mountains as you settle into warm, bubbling, salty water, with the tranquil sight of snow-covered mountain ranges, like the Gallatin and Bridger ranges, as your companion, along with roaming wildlife like bison, sometimes just a few yards away.
That's what you'll find at Yellowstone. While America's first national park — home to the largest concentration of geysers and hot springs in the world — has signs all over its grounds warning visitors not to step onto geyser-rich grounds or you'll end up on the Darwin Awards shortlist, there are a couple exceptions, including Firehole River in northwestern Wyoming, and a stretch of the Gardiner River, known as the Boiling River.
Just look for signs marking the 45th parallel — that's midway between the equator and the North Pole — and take a brief walk along a dirt path by the river. Up ahead you'll find an improvised spa, with stones piled into place over the years to contain a mix of cool water, from the Gardiner River, along with hot spring water.
Keep the hot-springs hopping going 35 miles north, at Chico Hot Springs. Tucked in a stretch of Paradise Valley (yep, the one that inspired John Mayer's latest album), this century-old hot springs resort near Pray, MT, has attracted everyone from outdoor legends of yore, like Teddy Roosevelt, to today's budget traveler. The big draw, in addition to Chico's mix of accommodations, from a high-end hotel to log cabins, is its 2 pools. Settle into an Olympic-size pool, with relaxing 95-degree water fresh from the Earth's crust, while enjoying views of Emigrant Peak, the towering nearly 11,000-foot-high peak at the western edge of the Absaroka Range.
While Chico Hot Springs attracts the crowds and occasional celebrity, White Sulphur Springs offers more relative seclusion. Three pools, fed by hot springs, make up the small property. In 1866, local Flathead Indians shared the secret of area hot springs with an early settler, James Brewer, who, in turn, saw a business opportunity and built a series of bath houses and a plunge pool. Today, the property is run by a local chiropractor, who heralds the waters, so rich in sulfate you can smell it, as on par with Baden-Baden, the famous spa in Germany.
Do yourself a favor, and plunge right in. You might loosen up a few muscles (and you definitely won't miss your cellphone), as you kick back in one of the happiest states in America, with bubbling, inviting warmth just beneath the surface.


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I present to you my newest level. This level is an exploration based platformer. Your journey will take you through the Sanctuary of Lost Souls to find the Keeper of Strength. Despite being a platformer, I suggest you take your time and take all of the scenery in as you go as there are a lot of little details you won't notice otherwise, and because you may want to track down all the points. Hidden or hard to get to points are worth more. Anyway, all feedback is appreciated and I hope you like it. Thanks again!
very purdy. I had already queued it when I saw it published so I'll "officially" say it now, Queued.
Looks great man! Queuing it up for tonight.
It's in my queue list now. Let's see if I ever play it... probably at sunday.
I got to play this tonight and dang shookie, this is a great looking level. I had a lot of fun searching the crannies for points. Got myself killed too many times though, Ha ha! Really great gameplay and like I said, visuals are top notch. Excellent work as always.
Thank you! I wanted to try and use as much as the 16 layers as possible for not only gameplay but decoration as well. I have seen too many levels that only create stuff in the playable space and I didn't want to do that. Thanks for the feedback!
Thank you for the feedback! So glad that you liked it and took your time to take in all the scenery. I was a little worried that I put way too much time in all the extra details and the background layers and that people would just zoom through the level. Glad to see that you didn't do that!
Even if people wouldn't take some time to watch all the details, these details would be noticed subliminally and they make the difference between a good level and a fantastic level! You did a fantastic level!
....but also wanted to say that Bioroque's stamps is pretty awesome too!
^^thanks! I spent a long time just on visuals alone so it's nice to know that people are enjoying the view at least.


text:
HomeEducation & Training
This section rounds-up the very latest news across the UK, providing a useful resource for students, graduates and those in employment looking to enhance their experience.
Project looks at whether sharing photos online can help reduce feelings of loneliness
Written by	The Editorial Team
A new research project between Oxford Brookes University and The Open University is investigating whether sharing photographs via social media mitigates loneliness in older people and enhances their wellbeing.
The project, co-led by Professor Shailey Minocha of The Open University and Dr Sarah Quinton at Oxford Brookes University, is funded by the Sir Halley Stewart Trust and supported by Age UK Milton Keynes. It will look at older people aged 60 and over.
The project will address the interlinked issues of ageing, loneliness, social isolation and wellbeing with individuals. Participating in the creative activity of taking photographs and sharing them online via email or social media platforms such as Facebook or Instagram may help overcome some of these issues.
Dr Sarah Quinton, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Oxford Brookes University said: "We want to investigate how older people communicate with others through digital technologies and social media, particularly how sharing photographs acts as a vehicle to share life experiences and interests.
"Through this study we will explore the perceived value of photo sharing online in tackling social isolation and loneliness in older people but also its benefits to people's wellbeing and cognitive function. The results from this study will provide actionable insight for organisations that support older people in later life."
The study at Oxford Brookes University is in two stages; the first is an online questionnaire for people aged 60 and over about their experiences sharing photos online and takes no more than 10 minutes.
Professor of Learning Technologies and Social Computing, Shailey Minocha, said: "Our previous research with Age UK Milton Keynes has shown that online social interactions help in alleviatingsocial isolation and loneliness – especially if older people are able to match online interactions with their interests.
"Over the last few years, photography has become easier with cameras integrated into mobile phones and Tablets. In this project, we will investigate how photography and online sharing can help towards social connectivity of people aged over 60 years and for maintaining their relationships with family and friends, for making new connections, and for inter-generational communication."
The second stage of the study is a discussion group lasting approximately an hour and a half for older people who share photographs online and via social media. Participants will be encouraged to discuss why and how they share images and what perceived benefits they derive from doing so, in addition to talking about any constraints to sharing.
This will take place on Tuesday 23 January at Oxford Brookes University, Headington Campus. For older people who do not share photographs online, there will be a further discussion group at the same location on Friday 23 February.
Those interested in taking part in the discussion groups or who require more information about the survey can email Dr Quinton at sequinton@brookes.ac.uk
The results of the research project are expected in the summer.
Scottish Tories call for national strategy to combat loneliness before end of year
Guidance: Only one in 10 can identify the symptoms of dementia
Only one in five local authorities have enough elderly care to meet demand
Older people living alone 50% more likely to visit A&E departments and GP services
Relative charged with murder of 79-year-old woman at nursing home
Nursing home 'utterly shocked' as murder probe launched over woman's death
Westminster Council given £10,000 donation to tackle homelessness and loneliness
Man arrested over suspected murder of elderly relative at Essex care home
Doing puzzles boosts brain in old age but won't protect against mental decline
Hospital launches specialised emergency department set up for elderly patients
Students use 'human vending machine' to highlight plight of victims of modern-day slavery
Activity programme to support elderly experiencing care hailed for improving quality of life
Conferences announced for practitioners supporting victims of elderly abuse in Wales
MRI scanners named among top health innovations by UK universities
Alzheimers	Autism | Aspergers | ADHD	Care Homes	Child Protection	Childrens Services	Conference	Courses	CPD	Dementia	Education	Education | Training	eLearning	End Of Life Care	Learning Disabilities	Learning | Development	Mental Health	North West	Nursing | Midwifery	Older People	Palliative Care	Qualifications	Research	Social Care	Social Work	Students	Training	Vulnerable Adults	Vulnerable Children	Yorkshire	Young People | Youth Work
Ground-breaking research to investigate benefits of music therapy on cognitive function
Researchers at Middlesex University (MDX) need healthy adults to participate in crucial researc...
Dundee contributes to University of Edinburgh's 100 years of social work celebrations
As the University of Edinburgh celebrates a centenary of social work education this month, staf...
Social work conference aims to address challenges of children coping with bereavement
The subject of children facing death or a bereavement in their family will be discussed at the ...
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children more likely to be taken into care
Child protection professionals are ill-equipped when working with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller chi...
Researchers find ad campaigns effective in cutting alcohol-fueled sexual advances
Research by the University of Brighton has shown than publicity campaigns can help combat...
Study of teens with severe conduct disorder reveals emotion recognition difficulties
Teenagers with severe antisocial behaviour have difficulty recognising facial expressions and a...
University of Chichester to host conference exploring death, bereavement and learning disability
The loss of a loved one is a devastating life experience for anyone but for the 1.5 million peo...
Academic recognised by PM with award for campaigning work with autistic children
Dr Sandra Beale-Ellis has been chosen by Prime Minister Theresa May to receive the 765th Points...
Leeds researchers establish links between lack of sleep and poor mental wellbeing
Inadequate sleep at night leads to poor memory and increases the risk of depression, anxiety an...
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A glimpse of The Cube here.
You awake to find yourself sitting at a table inside a cube. Your friends are gone and you are faced with the question: How do you build a reality which doesn't collapse within three days? The Cube is a virtual reality theatre performance for oculus rift incorporating leap motion hand tracking for a unique experience of multi-sensory and narrative immersion.


To research the book Missing Class, Betsy Leondar-Wright observed meetings of 25 varied social justice groups in 5 states, surveyed 362 diverse members and interviewed 67 of them. The class cultures patterns on this website come from analysis of those meetings and interviews.
Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures by Class Action's Betsy Leondar-Wright, published by Cornell University Press in 2014, is the first comparison of class culture differences in progressive social justice groups in the US today.
Missing Class describes class differences in paths to activism, attitudes toward leadership, methods of conflict resolution, ways of using language, diversity practices, use of humor, methods of recruiting, and group process preferences. Too often, we miss class. Missing Class makes a persuasive case that seeing class culture differences could enable activists to strengthen their own groupsand build more durable cross-class alliances for social change.
Betsy Leondar-Wright, PhD, is a long-time economic justice activist. She was Class Action's Program Director from 2010 to 2015 and currently serves on the board. Before Missing Class, she authored Class Matters: Cross-Class Alliance Building for Middle-Class Activists and co-authored The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the US Racial Wealth Divide. She teaches social movement strategy and race, class and gender inequality at Lasell College.
Class Action, founded in 2004, is a national nonprofit organization that raises awareness about class and inspires action to end classism. For more information about workshops to reduce organizational classism, click here.


text:
Using Internet Surveys to Estimate Visitors' Willingness to Pay for Coral Reef Conservation in the Kenting National Park, Taiwan
Contribution of Biological Effects to the Carbon Sources/Sinks and the Trophic Status of the Ecosystem in the Changjiang (Yangtze) River Estuary Plume in Summer as Indicated by Net Ecosystem Production Variations
Valuing Provision Scenarios of Coastal Ecosystem Services: The Case of Boat Ramp Closures Due to Harmful Algae Blooms in Florida
Schuhmann, P.
Skeete, R.
Waite, R.
Bangwayo-Skeete, P.
Casey, J.
Oxenford, H. A.
Gill, D. A.
Peter Schuhmann
Ryan Skeete
Richard Waite
Prosper Bangwayo-Skeete
James Casey
Hazel A. Oxenford
David A. Gill
Department of Economics and Finance, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403, USA
Caribbean Tourism Organization, Warrens, St. Michael BB22026, Barbados
World Resources Institute, Washington, DC 20002, USA
Department of Economics, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill BB11000, Barbados
Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA 24450, USA
Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill BB11000, Barbados
Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Lab, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
Received: 2 May 2019 / Revised: 9 June 2019 / Accepted: 13 June 2019 / Published: 17 June 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Coastal Resources Economics and Ecosystem Valuation)
Seawater quality is critical for island and coastal communities dependent on coastal tourism. Improper management of coastal development and inland watersheds can decrease seawater quality and adversely impact marine life, human health, and economic growth. Agricultural runoff and improper sewage management compromise nearshore water quality in many coastal regions and can impact visitation decisions of tourists who are drawn to these destinations. The purpose of this paper is to understand how tourists' decisions to revisit Barbados might be affected by changes in coastal and marine quality. We use data collected from tourists to examine how tourists' stated willingness to return is affected by scenarios involving changes in seawater quality, beach width and coral reef health. Results reveal that return decisions are sensitive to changes in all aspects of coastal and marine quality. A reduction in seawater quality discourages tourists' intention to return more than other environmental factors. These results are of paramount interest to destination managers, marketers and policymakers who rely on repeat visitation data to develop marketing strategies and infer future direction. This research highlights the importance of prioritizing seawater quality management to protect the coastal tourism product, especially in small island developing states (SIDS) with a high reliance on tourism income.
seawater quality; contingent behavior; tourism; Barbados
Clean beaches, clear turquoise waters and healthy coral reefs provide the principal settings for tourism activity in the Caribbean [1,2]. Coastal development is needed to support this tourism, but when improperly managed can have negative impacts on the natural assets that attract visitors. For example, losses in coral reef quality can have an array of impacts due to their prominent role in creating and protecting beaches, protecting coastal infrastructure, and providing aesthetic value for divers and snorkelers.
Management of coastal runoff and sewage is especially important for areas that depend on coastal tourism, as seawater quality is directly connected to human and ecosystem health. Approximately 30 percent of the Caribbean's coral reefs are at high risk from threats like runoff, sedimentation and the discharge of untreated domestic and hotel wastewater [3,4]. When nutrient-rich effluents found in agricultural runoff and sewage are deposited into natural water courses [5], microalgae (phytoplankton) [6] and macroalgae (seaweed) grow rapidly and out-compete coral for space on the reef [7]. Suspended sediment also blocks light [6], and when it settles it smothers the reef, destroying living spaces, damaging corals and other benthic fauna and preventing settlement of new coral recruits [8]. Contaminated seawater can also lead to a variety of human health hazards through ingestion or contact with pathogenic microorganisms, including gastroenteric illnesses such as diarrhea, or infections of the upper respiratory tract, ears, eyes, nasal cavity and skin [9]. Real or perceived risks involving the quality of recreational seawater therefore have important economic implications in areas that depend on tourism as a primary source of income [10].
A significant and growing literature attempts to understand the tradeoffs between coastal and marine quality and the economic returns from tourism. Much of this literature uses revealed and stated preference valuation methods to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for "non-market" aspects of coastal and marine quality such as beach width, coral reef health and biodiversity. WTP estimates can be informative for policy and management decisions. For example, estimates of WTP can be used to understand the economic benefits of improving or maintaining resource quality to inform cost-benefit analyses. WTP estimates can also be used to identify potential sources of funding for conservation and management, to design incentives that promote sustainable behavior, and to highlight the opportunity costs of resource degradation.
Because the assumptions necessary to employ revealed preference methods do not apply to many non-market environmental goods [11], and actual (behavioral) data can be costly to obtain, especially for goods that are purchased infrequently [12], stated preference methods such as the contingent valuation method (CVM) and choice experiments (CE) are often employed in WTP investigations. Stated preference methods provide the advantage of allowing for the examination of scenarios involving hypothetical changes that are outside the range of historical conditions [13] and can be used to estimate non-use values.
Recent examples include Halkos and Matsiori [14], who use CVM to estimate residents' WTP for a state-managed program of coastal zone improvements in Volos, Greece. Their results suggest that a substantial proportion of respondents are willing to pay for improving coastal zone quality, and that improving the quality of bathing water is the most important reason for WTP. García-Ayllón [15] present a novel approach to CVM, combining WTP estimates with participatory GIS mapping and process optimization to formulate environmental management solutions on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Recent applications of CVM in the Caribbean include Casey and Schuhmann [16] and Schuhmann et al. [17], who measure tourists' willingness to pay conservation fees in Belize and Barbados respectively, and Trujillo et al. [18], who use the contingent valuation method (CVM) to estimate recreational divers' willingness to pay for the conservation of the coral reefs in the Columbian Caribbean.
Applications of the CE method include Pakalniete et al. [19], who estimate Latvian citizens' WTP for improving seawater quality for recreation, avoiding reductions in marine biodiversity and limiting new occurrences of invasive alien species in coastal and marine waters of the Baltic Sea. Of these attributes, they find that WTP is highest for better seawater quality. Christie et al. [20] estimate the benefits from six attributes associated with marine protected areas (MPAs) in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG): Fishing quality, coastal protection, water quality (as related to human health), species diversity, beach recreation and diving/snorkeling recreation. The authors find that both locals and tourists on the South coast of St. Vincent were willing to pay the most for avoiding declines in human health related to water quality, followed by improvements to human health. Numerous other WTP studies estimate the monetary value that Caribbean beachgoers and underwater recreationists attribute to clean and wide beaches, healthy reefs, diverse fish populations and encounters with species such as sea turtles [21,22,23], with similar results found outside the region [24,25,26].
While monetary estimates of WTP for changes in resource quality are valuable for many reasons, policy makers in tourism-dependent areas can also benefit from an appreciation for how people's behavior will change in response to changes in resource quality. For example, an understanding of how tourists' willingness to return to a destination is related to the quality of the natural environment can help policy makers plan for changes in demand, anticipate changes in visitor profiles or plan targeted interventions to influence the behavior of demographic groups [27]. In tourism-dependent destinations where arrivals and return visitation are important measures of success, understanding how willingness to return depends on environmental quality might be a more tangible and relevant measure of socioeconomic outcomes than WTP. Furthermore, this "contingent behavior" approach may minimize some of the difficulties associated with traditional WTP estimation, such as respondents' unfamiliarity with formulating monetary estimates of WTP, and moral objection to monetizing nature. While methodologically similar to CVM, applications of the contingent behavior approach are relatively rare in the literature, especially as related to Caribbean tourism.
The purpose of this study is to complement and add to the existing valuation literature by assessing the potential effect of changes in seawater quality, beach width and coral reef health on visitors' stated intention to return to Barbados. This inquiry is novel, as we estimate Caribbean tourists' willingness to return to a destination under conditions of environmental change, rather than willingness to pay, thereby complementing existing WTP studies and adding an important quantity-based measure to our understanding of tourism demand. Our results can help guide policy by providing insight into how continued environmental degradation might affect return visitation and how changes in resource quality might alter the sociodemographic profile of the Barbados tourist population.
2.1. Study Site
Located in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, tourism is the leading foreign exchange earner in Barbados. In 2018, the tourism sector accounted for more than 40 percent of Barbados GDP and national employment [28] and 60.8 percent of total exports. In 2017, Barbados attracted 661,160 overnight tourist arrivals, more than twice its population [29], and a record 681,211 cruise ship passengers [30].
Barbados is among the top-ranking countries for dependence on reefs, yet also among the top countries for highest exposure of the reef to threats [4]. Live coral cover and reef community health have declined considerably since the 1970s [31,32,33]. These declines have been linked to increasing seawater eutrophication and wastewater pollution from hotels and coastal properties [8,34,35,36,37,38,39]. Barbados policymakers were prompted to engage in numerous measures, including constructing a 44-km central primary sewage system to capture wastewater flows on the south coast (where hotels are spatially concentrated), implementing water quality standards, forming an oversight committee for water pollution control, and offering tax incentives for upgrades to hotel wastewater disposal systems [6].
Notwithstanding these attempts to translate policy into action, weaknesses remain. The level of sewage treatment in Barbados remains inadequate to protect nearshore ecosystems [6,40], thereby threatening the vital economic contribution of the tourism sector. Indeed, in 2017–2018, a failure at the island's south coast sewage treatment plant resulted in the release of untreated sewage in an area of high tourism activity. As a result, Barbados' main source markets—USA, U.K., Canada and Germany—issued health alerts and travel advisories against visiting Barbados' south coast. Due to health concerns, the government closed Worthing Beach for extended periods from December 2016 to December 2018. Hotels and guest houses in the area have lost business, and several restaurants and shops closed, as many tourists relocated or cancelled reservations.
Policymakers are keenly aware of these problems, but are also concerned about the costs associated with increased waste-water treatment, including disruptions to tourism, transport and local commerce [41]. The costs of increasing and maintaining waste-water treatment facilities can be significant, yet are easily calculable for planning purposes. However, because the benefits associated with improved seawater quality and the costs of continued losses have not been quantified, policy makers lack sufficient information to evaluate the economic implications of management interventions or the consequences of inaction. It is this gap in knowledge that this research seeks to address.
2.2. Survey
Similar to the approach taken by Hanley et al. [42] and based on prior work in Barbados by Schuhmann et al. [17,43], an exit questionnaire was developed to collect a variety of trip and individual characteristics from departing visitors to Barbados. In addition to providing an array of demographic information such as age, income, country of origin and education level, respondents provided information about their trip, including trip purpose, lodging type, participation in recreational activities in the coastal zone and Likert scale ratings of several coastal and marine attributes.
Early in the survey, respondents were asked to state the likelihood that they would return to Barbados, choosing from "definitely", "probably", "unsure", "probably not" and definitely not". Later in the survey respondents were (again) asked four separate questions about their willingness to return to Barbados, each pertaining to a scenario describing a change in environmental conditions. Specifically, respondents were asked to state the likelihood that they would return to Barbados, choosing from the same responses noted above, if changes occurred to beach width, coral reef health, the quality of marine life (fish, turtles, etc.), and the cleanliness of the sea water. All environmental changes were described in terms of percentage changes from the current condition. The specific text used in the questionnaire is shown in Table 1 below, where we also include corresponding variable names and the coding scheme which ranged from 1–5. The strongest negative response (definitely will not return) was coded as 1 and the strongest positive response (definitely will return) was coded as 5.
Sixteen different versions of the survey were randomly distributed among respondents. Each version included one of seven different values of hypothetical environmental changes. Three of these changes were improvements (5, 10 and 25 percent increases in beach width, coral reef health, marine life and seawater quality) and four described degraded environmental conditions (5, 10, 25 and 50 percent reductions). Due to current trends in Barbados, degradations were deemed more likely than improvements. We therefore weighted the distribution of environmental change parameters toward degradations. Roughly 70 percent of respondents were presented with scenarios involving negative changes. Because we used seven values of the environmental change parameter and 16 versions of the survey, the change parameters were not evenly distributed across the sample. For example, −10 and −25 percent changes were presented to 25 percent and 20 percent of the respondents respectively, while the scenario involving 5 percent improvements was presented to 5.5 percent of the sample.
Seawater quality can be expressed in terms of water clarity or visibility [44,45], meeting regulatory standards of quality [42,46], the chance of human illness through contact [47,48,49] or the presence of algae [44,47]. Water-based recreation can expose individuals to a variety of health hazards arising from contamination by runoff, sewage and excreta [9,49]. According to the World Health Organization [9], enteric illness is the most frequent adverse health outcome associated with exposure to fecally contaminated recreational water. Pond [10] notes that gastroenteric symptoms such as diarrhea are widespread and common among recreational water users. Expressing changes in the quality of seawater in terms of the risk of a stomach infection relative to the status quo condition was judged to be the most appropriate for policy decisions in Barbados.
2.3. Data
The questionnaire was distributed to visitors in the departures lounge of the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) in the final two weeks of March 2015. The data were collected prior to the negative publicity surrounding the sewage issues and are a subset of the data used in the Schuhmann et al. analysis of tourists' willingness to pay conservation fees [17]. After removal of incomplete questionnaires and questionnaires that included extreme outliers or illogical responses, approximately 3300 completed questionnaires were retained.
We focus on how responses to the willingness to return questions changed from the first version of the question (status quo conditions, prior to mention of environmental change) to the scenarios that described changes in coastal and marine quality. Because visitation decisions by business travelers (roughly 8 percent of the sample) and Barbadian nationals living abroad (4.7 percent) are likely to be based on non-environmental factors, we removed these two classes of individuals from the sample. Approximately 2700 of the remaining respondents answered both the initial willingness to return question and at least one question regarding willingness to return with changed environmental conditions. From this subsample we remove observations where the respondent initially suggested that they would (would not) return to Barbados, and subsequently indicated a higher probability that they would (would not) return under degraded (improved) environmental conditions. We assume that these respondents did not understand at least one of the willingness to return questions. Our final sample for analysis contains approximately 2550 observations.
2.4. Empirical Approach
We use different forms of general linear modeling (GLM) and logit regression to identify factors associated with respondents changing their stated willingness to return to Barbados under status quo conditions (Question 8, Table 1) after being presented with hypothetical changes in environmental quality (Questions 22–24). Changes in the stated intention to return can be measured several ways. First, we can quantify the difference in responses between the two intention to return questions as a single numerical value. For example, a "change in score" measure for changes in intention to revisit following the scenario describing changes in environmental quality can be measured using a new variable, Y3:
C h a n g e _ I n t e n t i o n = Y 3 = Y 2 − Y 1
where Y1 is the response to the initial willingness to return question and Y2 is the response to the subsequent question under conditions of environmental change. This variable can be constructed for changes in water quality, beach width, coral reef health and the quality of marine life, and is an ordinal variable with nine theoretically possible outcomes ranging from −4 to 4. Negative values of Change_Intention correspond to potential losses (respondents who are less likely to return), while positive values represent potential gains in return visitation (respondents who are more likely to return). A larger absolute value indicates a higher magnitude of change from the initial stated response. Table 2, below, shows the possible composition of values for Change_Intention outcomes.
Alternatively, we can analyze indicator variables representing different discrete response changes, such as changing the stated intention to return from "definitely yes" (DY) to "definitely not" (DN), or variables that represent groupings of response changes such as changing from "definitely yes" or "probably yes" (DPY) to "definitely not" or "probably not" (DPN):
YDYDN = 1, if Y1 = 5 and Y2 = 1; (Y3 = 4)
YDYDN = 0, otherwise
YDPYDPN = 1, if Y1 ≥ 4 and Y2 ≤ 2,
YDPYDPN = 0, otherwise
The first step in our approach is to use correlation analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to understand whether the values for Change_Intention are associated with the different values of environmental change presented in the survey. The second step is to use various forms of regression modeling to identify factors that are associated with changes in the stated intention to revisit.
A simple approach to modeling change in stated response is to use linear regression (an ordered logit specification would require conversion of Change_Intention to a value ranging from 0–8 rather than −4–4, and consequently the treatment of 0 as "no change" would not be preserved) to model Change_Intention as a function of the value of environmental change presented to the respondent, ci, and individual characteristics, Xi:
Y3 = (Y2 − Y1) = β0 + β1ci + Σ βXi + εi
An important consideration is whether to include the initial willingness to return response (Y1, Plan_Return) as a control variable in Equation (4). Including such a control ensures that any response changes are truly associated with other explanatory variables and not the result of differences in the initial response across groups in the sample. For example, if visitors from the U.S. are initially more likely to state a high probability of return (Y1) relative to visitors from other countries, values of Change_Intention may be lower (more negative) for visitors from the U.S., all else being equal. Analysis of Change_Intention without the baseline response control might then lead to the erroneous conclusion that visitors from the U.S. are more sensitive to environmental change. After exploring the relationship between the initial willingness to return response (Y1) and other respondent factors, we include Y1 as a baseline control variable in modeling response change.
Another consideration for the model in Equation (4) is the assumption that the effect of environmental change, ci, on Change_Intention can be captured by a single linear coefficient β1. To examine whether the effect of environmental change on Change_Intention is non-linear, we can include a quadratic term, ci2, in Equation (4) or treat the alternative values of ci as indicator variables.
As an alternative to modeling the change in intention to return as a continuous variable, binary response models such as logit regression can be used to understand factors that are associated with discrete changes such as those shown in Equation (2) or Equation (3). An individual i can be expected to change their stated revisit intention in response to an environmental change if their expected utility (satisfaction) Ui under the new revisit intention is higher than utility with the initial revisit intention:
U1i (V1i + ε1i) ≥ U0i (V0i + ε0i)
where Ui represents the respondent's utility, which is comprised of an observable (deterministic) component Vi and an unobservable (stochastic) component εi.
The probability of changing responses to the willingness to return questions is therefore the probability that expected utility under the new conditions exceeds utility under the original (status quo) conditions. For example, the probability that an individual would change from "definitely will return" to "definitely will not return" is the probability that expected utility with certain intentions to not revisit (U1) is higher than expected utility with certain intentions to revisit (U0):
Pi (YDYDN) = Pi (Y3 = −4) = P [U1i(V1i + ε1i) ≥ U0i (V0i + ε0i)]
To estimate probabilities such as Equation (6) using logit regression, we assume that utility is linear in the degree of environmental change presented to the respondent, ci, and other respondent characteristics, Xi:
Ui (cj, Xi) = β0 + β1ci + Σ βXi + εi
For the logit specification, the probability shown in Equation (6) is then given by:
P i ( Y DYDN ) = exp ( β 0 + β 1 c i + Σ β X i ) 1 + exp ( β 0 + β 1 c i + Σ β X i )
A consideration when examining response changes such as changing from "definitely will return" to "definitely will not return", is whether to limit the sample to respondents who were presented with scenarios involving negative environmental change. Respondents who were presented environmental improvements would not logically change from "will return" to "will not return", but will be coded as 0 in formulations of the dependent variable such as Equations (2) and (3), indicating that they did not make this change. Inclusion of these respondents may therefore confound the estimation of the coefficients on respondent characteristics. We explore Equation (8) using both the full sample and the subsample of respondents who faced scenarios involving negative environmental change.
3.1. Summary Statistics
Visitors from the United States and Canada were over-represented in the sample relative to annual arrivals from Barbados' main source markets in 2015 (34% and 18% in our sample vs. 23% and 13% annual arrivals in 2015). Visitors from the U.K., the Caribbean and other European countries were under-represented (approximately 34%, 8% and 3% in our sample vs. 35%, 16% and 8% of annual 2015 arrivals). To accurately represent the preferences of the population of visitors by main source market, each observation was weighted using the ratio of the actual to sample percentage of visitors from each main market per year. All results presented below are based on the weighted sample.
Summary statistics are shown in Table 3. Notably, approximately 52 percent of the sample was visiting Barbados for the first time. Of those who had been to Barbados on a prior occasion, the average number of prior trips was approximately 6.5. Summary statistics for participation in coastal and marine recreation activities and ratings of coastal and marine quality are shown in Table 4. Respondents were heavily involved in coastal and marine recreation, with swimming, snorkeling and swimming with turtles being the most common activities. Respondents provided high ratings for all aspects of coastal and marine quality, with the quality of sand on beaches and the cleanliness and visibility of seawater receiving the highest average ratings and beach width receiving the lowest average rating.
Responses to the willingness to return questions are summarized in Table 5, which includes summary statistics for responses to the original willingness to return question, the follow-up questions involving environmental change and the Change_Intention variables. It is notable that changes in the quality of seawater induced significantly more changes in respondents' stated intention to return to Barbados than the other three environmental changes presented.
In Table 6, we show the percentage of respondents who changed their stated intentions to return to Barbados (i.e., the value of Change_Intention shown in Table 2 is not 0) by degree of environmental change. As expected, higher degrees of environmental change result in more respondents changing their stated intention to return. Two notable results are apparent from this Table. First, as illustrated in Table 5, significantly fewer respondents maintained their original willingness to return in response to changes in seawater quality relative to the other environmental changes presented. Even the smallest decline in water quality (5 percent higher chance of an infection) resulted in over 70 percent of respondents changing their response. Of the 352 respondents who were presented with the scenario involving a 50 percent reduction in water quality, 18 percent had the most severe change in intentions to revisit, changing their response from "definitely will return" to "definitely will not return" (Change_Intention_SW = −4). Another 44 percent changed from "definitely will return" to "probably will not return" or from "probably will return" to "definitely will not return" (Change_Intention_SW = −3). Hypothetical improvements in environmental quality did not influence the stated intention to return to Barbados for a large majority of respondents.
3.2. General Linear Models of Change_Intention Score
Correlation coefficients between the change intention variables (Table 2) and the degree of environmental change suggest significant positive correlations between these measures (Pearson correlation coefficients are 0.57, 0.41, 0.41 and 0.39 for changes in seawater quality, beach width, marine life and coral health respectively. All correlation coefficients are statistically significant at the α = 0.01 level). Higher (lower) values of environmental change (which ranges from −50 to +25) are associated with higher (lower) values of Change_Intention (which ranges from −4 to +4). t-tests show that all values of environmental change resulted in statistically significant changes in responses for all environmental quality measures (all mean values of Change_Intention were statistically different than zero at the α = 0.01 level for each level of environmental change). These results suggest that respondents changed their stated willingness to return in response to the hypothetical scenarios in the expected direction.
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for differences in the Change_Intention variable for each pair of values of environmental change revealed no significant differences in Change_Intention for any pair of positive environmental changes. In other words, while environmental improvement scenarios caused respondents to change their stated intention to return in the expected (more favorable) direction, respondents did not react differently to 5 percent, 10 percent or 25 percent improvements in any of the environmental changes. Furthermore, we find no statistically significant differences in Change_Intention between 5 and 10 percent declines in beach width, coral health or the quality of marine life, or between 25 and 50 percent declines in coral health. Highly significant differences in Change_Intention were found for all other pairs of environmental change.
Numerous combinations of explanatory variables were tested in a GLM regression framework for Change_Intention. The environmental change variable was included as a continuous variable, a quadratic variable and using six indicator variables. Results shown in Table 7 are representative and include variables of policy interest (e.g., degree of environmental change, whether the respondent is a first-time visitor, respondent country of origin) and those that were found to be robust to specification. Because of the potential for biased estimates due to multicollinearity between the extensive and intensive margins of past visitation (i.e., the indicator variable for first time visitor and the number of prior visits), we examine model specifications that include both measures together and separately.
In Table 7, positive (negative) coefficients indicate that higher values of the corresponding independent variable are associated with higher (lower) values of Change_Intention. For example, the negative coefficient on Plan_Return suggests that respondents who originally stated a higher probability of returning to Barbados were more likely to change in the negative direction (i.e., suggest a lower likelihood of return under conditions of environmental change).
Respondents who were presented with scenarios involving environmental losses were more likely to change their intention to return in the negative direction. On average, a higher magnitude of any form of environmental loss induces higher change in response, signaling that tourists are sensitive to declines in coastal and marine quality. In contrast, environmental improvement scenarios do not appear to induce significant change in stated intention to return. When coded as a continuous variable, coefficients on the environmental change variable were consistently positive and highly statistically significant, consistent with the results in Table 7. Including a quadratic term for environmental change in the specification (independently or in combination with the linear term) confirms that this relationship is nonlinear.
Tourists' nationality appears to explain differences in the responsiveness towards environmental degradation. Residents of the U.S. and U.K. appear more sensitive to changes in water quality, while U.S. and Caribbean visitors appear more responsive to reductions in beach width. We find no apparent differences in sensitivity to changes in coral health or marine life across nationalities. Respondents who provided higher Likert scale ratings of beach width, coral health or marine life are less likely to change their stated intention to return in response to changes in those aspects of environmental quality, implying that environmental losses are less of a deterrent for return visitation for tourists who are satisfied with these environmental conditions.
In terms of destination loyalty, first time visitors appear more sensitive to changes in coral health and marine life than repeat visitors, suggesting that repeat visitors are less likely to change their stated intentions to return following changes in these aspects of environmental quality. We also find mild evidence that respondents with more previous trips to Barbados are less sensitive to changes in seawater quality. That is, all else being equal, degradations in seawater quality are likely to have a smaller impact on return decisions for frequent visitors to Barbados.
All recreation activities shown in Table 4 were included as covariates, independently and in combination. Only swimming, going to the beach and snorkeling were found to be significantly associated with Change_Intention. It is notable that snorkelers appear to be more sensitive to changes in sea water quality and the quality of marine life than non-snorkelers. Finally, we find that respondents with higher education are more sensitive to all environmental changes than those without higher education.
To illustrate the differential impact of environmental change scenarios on respondents' stated intention to return, we plot fitted values of Change_Intention across all levels of environmental change using the coefficient estimates shown in Table 7. We calculate fitted values for a first-time visitor from the U.S. with a college education, who went to the beach, went swimming and snorkeling, and provided the highest ratings of environmental quality. The shapes of the functions in Figure 1 illustrate the nonlinear relationship between degree of environmental change and the magnitude of response in stated intention to return.
3.3. Logit Models of Intention to Return
We use logit regression to identify the factors that are associated with discrete changes in stated intention to return. As shown in Table 2, above, respondents could change their stated intention to return in 20 distinct ways in response to hypothetical changes in environmental quality (10 for improvements in quality and 10 for declines). Because environmental improvements have little impact on stated intention to return, we restrict the sample to respondents who viewed scenarios involving reductions in quality.
Table 8 shows the results of logit regression models for changing responses from "definitely" or "probably" will return to "definitely" or "probably" will not return (i.e., the dependent variable is equal to one if the respondent changed their stated intention from "definitely" or "probably" will return to "definitely" or "probably" will not return, and equal to zero otherwise). Numerous model specifications and combinations of covariates were estimated. The results presented in Table 8 are representative. We also examined less severe changes, such as changing from "definitely will return" to "definitely" or "probably" will not return and found results very similar to those presented in Table 8. Limited responses for the most severe unfavorable change ("definitely will return" to "definitely will not return") inhibited maximum likelihood estimation.
In these models, positive (negative) and statistically significant coefficients indicate that higher (lower) values of the variable are associated with a higher probability of changing the stated intention to return. For example, the coefficients on 50 and 25 percent environmental losses are consistently positive and highly significant. This indicates that these changes in environmental quality are associated with a higher probability of changing the stated intention to return to Barbados from "definitely" or "probably" will return to "definitely" or "probably" will not return. The positive coefficient on Plan_Return suggest that respondents who originally stated a higher probability of returning to Barbados were more likely to suggest a lower likelihood of return under conditions of environmental change.
As with Change_Intention, higher magnitudes of any form of environmental loss are associated with a higher probability that respondents change their stated intention to return. Again, we find nationality appears to explain differences in the response variable. Residents of the U.S., U.K. and Canada appear more sensitive to changes in water quality and beach width, and Caribbean residents appear to have similar but less significant tendencies to change response. We also find no significant differences in sensitivity to changes in coral health or marine life across main market points of origin, except for a mild reaction by U.K. residents to changes in marine life. Also supporting the above analysis of Change_Intention, environmental losses are less likely to affect return visitation for tourists who are satisfied with beach width, coral health or marine life, and snorkelers appear to be more sensitive to changes in sea water quality and the quality of marine life than non-snorkelers. We again find evidence of destination loyalty. First time visitors are more sensitive to changes in beach width, coral health and marine life than repeat visitors. Interestingly, first time visitors appear most sensitive to changes in coral health. Respondents with more previous trips to Barbados are again found to be less sensitive to changes in seawater quality.
This research demonstrates that Barbados tourists' return visitation decisions are sensitive to declines in all aspects of coastal and marine quality. This general finding was expected, given that tourists' major attractions to Barbados are "sea, sand and sun" products and that tourists require value for their money. Of the four coastal and marine attributes examined, declines in seawater quality have the most significant impact on tourists' stated willingness to return, confirming the notion that perceived risks involving water-based recreation have important economic repercussions in tourism-dependent areas [10].
It is notable that even the highest levels of losses in beach width, coral health and marine life (i.e., 50% losses) do not produce as dramatic an impact on return visitation intentions as the smallest change in seawater quality (i.e., 5% higher probability of an infection). This finding is consistent with the results of Can and Alp, who find that tourists and residents are willing to pay more for water quality than improvements in marine life in Turkey [48], and Halkos and Matsiori, who find that improving the quality of bathing water is the most important determinant of willingness to pay for coastal zone improvement in Volos, Greece [14]. A possible explanation is that recreationists understand that seawater quality has a direct impact on their health, whereas attributes such as beach width, coral health and marine life are primarily associated with aesthetic enjoyment. It may also be the case that the quality of seawater has an impact on the aesthetic value and perception of reef quality and marine life; however, our data do not allow for testing of this hypothesis.
Another salient takeaway from this research is that scenarios involving environmental improvements do not result in statistically significant changes in tourists' stated intention to return. We can infer that tourists are averse to environmental losses, a result that may be an artifact of general loss aversion or an endowment effect. It may also be the case that respondents' expectations for environmental quality have largely been met. Ratings of coastal and marine quality were generally high, and those who found environmental quality to be favorable were less deterred by losses in quality. Satisfied with current conditions, further improvements do not induce significant changes in tourists' intentions to revisit. An important policy implication is that if the economic costs of improving environmental quality are prohibitive, maintaining status quo conditions might be enough to support continued tourism demand. It is important to note that this result stands in contrast to numerous monetary valuation studies that show positive WTP for improvements in coastal and marine quality [14,21,22,23,43], and illustrates the importance of understanding both price and quantity aspects of the demand relationship. It seems clear from the literature that people are WTP higher prices for trips with improved environmental quality, but it may be the case that such improvements would not induce a change in the number of trips demanded. This suggests that destinations can capture economic surplus from environmental improvements through pricing mechanisms, but not necessarily through increased visitation. Further research in this area appears warranted.
We find that first time visitors are more sensitive to changes in coral health and marine life than return visitors. It may be the case that repeat visitors have established stronger ties to the community and tend to visit for reasons beyond coastal and marine quality. This inference aligns with the marketing notion that it is harder to attract a new visitor than retain an existing one [12,50,51]. Existing repeat tourists have developed destination loyalty and may be harder to sway away from a familiar or preferred destination [52]. It is, therefore, not surprising that increased frequency of visitation (number of prior visits) reduces visitors' sensitivity to some environmental losses.
Respondents with higher education appear to be more sensitive to all losses in environmental quality and are especially sensitive to declines in seawater quality. More educated tourists may be more aware of environmental issues and the impact of environmental degradation on their health, thus having a higher aversion to adverse environmental effects. Furthermore, more educated tourists may be more aware of or more able to afford alternative destinations where environmental conditions are relatively favorable [14]. Importantly, we find that tourists in our sample with higher educations are younger, have higher incomes, and spend more on their trips to Barbados (all differences are highly statistically significant (α < 0.01)). Our results therefore imply that continued deterioration of coastal and marine quality in Barbados may shift the demographic profile of tourists toward individuals who are less educated, less likely to engage in marine recreation and have lower economic impact while on island. Given our findings regarding nationality and stated intention to return, it also seems likely that continued losses in coastal and marine quality will result in lower return visitation from the U.K. and the U.S., Barbados' two main source markets.
Our findings are consistent with other results in the literature. For example, of the four coastal and marine attributes examined in Schuhmann et al. [44], tourists' WTP is least sensitive to changes in beach width and are only willing to pay to avoid very narrow beaches. We find that tourists who are more satisfied with environmental attributes are less sensitive to declines environmental quality, supporting the results of Um et al., who find that perceived attractiveness serves as a strong predictor of intention to revisit [50]. Our results suggest that visitation decisions by respondents who had recreational contact with coastal and marine environments (particularly through snorkeling) were more sensitive to environmental change than those who did not engage in these activities. This is consistent with results found by Beharry-Borg and Scarpa [21], Kosenius [44], and Hynes et al. [49], who find that willingness to pay for marine quality is positively associated with recreational contact and supports the findings of numerous studies in the literature showing that underwater recreationists have strong preferences and willingness to pay for healthy reefs and diverse fish populations [21,22,23]. Importantly, poor water quality is expected to have a greater impact on snorkelers than on swimmers, as water quality affects health and has an impact on the visual aesthetic of the marine environment.
Limitations of this research include the possibility for biased responses due to the hypothetical nature of our environmental change scenarios and the difficulties associated with separating environmental reasons for changes in aggregate visitation from other factors that affect demand. Future research could attempt to follow-up with respondents regarding actual revisit behaviors to empirically validate stated intentions. Combining information on the time trend of coastal and marine quality with estimates of return visitation over time could serve to isolate the overall impact of environmental change.
Repeat visitation signals satisfaction with a destination's attributes and is an important component in maintaining predictable tourist benefits and economic stability. With a return visitation rate near 50 percent, repeat visitors are critically important to the tourism-based economy of Barbados. Our examination of tourists' stated intentions to return to Barbados under scenarios of environmental change suggests that return tourism demand is highly vulnerable to continued losses in coastal and marine quality. Our results confirm the results of monetary valuation studies that suggest WTP by visitors to "sun, sea and sand" destinations is highly sensitive to coastal and marine degradation. Results presented here complement the existing WTP literature by providing non-monetary estimates of the potential consequences of continued nearshore degradation.
Of interest is the fact that seawater quality, a key driver of the health of coral reef ecosystems (i.e., coral and associated marine life) and indirectly related to beach width (as the producer of sand), was the attribute that visitors cared most about. These findings help to clarify policy focus regarding management actions designed to prevent coastal and marine degradation. In terms of maximizing returns from tourism, it seems clear that the focus of policy should be on preventing further declines in seawater quality.
These results are timely for Barbados. First, recent reductions in seawater quality and associated health hazards from sewage issues have resulted in negative media coverage. Governments from Barbados' main source markets (U.K., U.S. and Canada) issued travel warnings against visiting Barbados due to health concerns associated with this pollution, pointing to the need to understand the potential effect on the economy. Our results suggest that if the sewage issues are not resolved, the impact on the Barbadian economy via return tourism could be quite significant. Results from WTP studies in Barbados and elsewhere in the Caribbean suggest that recovering the costs associated with improving nearshore water quality may be feasible through pricing mechanisms such as conservation fees or higher prices for lodging and recreation, but our results imply that there may not be economic gains created through increased visitation.
Our results also support the Barbados Government's new strategic direction to develop a strong blue economy as seen in the 2018 creation of a 'Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Blue Economy' and the recent commitments of the Barbados Government at the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference in Kenya, November 2018. At this global gathering, the Government of Barbados announced the intention to follow a 'Roof to reefs' model (requiring management of land-based activities) in support of building its Blue Economy. Our results provide strong justification for this need to manage land-based activities to prevent further deterioration of coastal water. Efforts to restore reef ecosystems and mitigate coastal erosion are likely to result in lower returns if not coupled with management actions designed to prevent additional losses in seawater quality.
Beyond the importance for Barbados, this research highlights a relatively unexplored avenue for understanding the tradeoffs between environmental quality and the economic returns from tourism. The examination of how changes in environmental quality might affect people's behavior can provide insights that complement and extend the information gleaned from willingness to pay studies. First, understanding behavioral changes such as tourists' willingness to return to a destination can help bring the importance of natural resources and ecosystem services into the policy arena by highlighting the impact on tourism demand—a tangible and easily understood metric in locations where tourism is the principle economic driver. Furthermore, asking people to respond to behavioral questions avoids the difficulty of respondents having no prior experience with the monetary transactions proposed in WTP questions, which may lead to the expression of unreliable ''constructive preferences'' [53]. Estimates of behavioral change also avoid the moral, ethical and reductionist concerns associated with "commodifying" nature in monetary terms [54] and may minimize hypothetical bias in the case of familiar private goods such as travel [55]. Finally, willingness to return may be a more sensible expression of value than willingness to pay in the context of tourism. If visitors are not presented with a genuine opportunity to contribute monetary resources to conservation initiatives at a destination, they may simply "vote with their feet" and travel elsewhere.
Despite these advantages, contingent behavior studies examining the sensitivity of tourism demand to environmental quality are scarce in the literature. Given the relative ease of designing and analyzing willingness to return questions, valuation practitioners and tourist destinations that are dependent on natural resource quality would be advised to consider complementing existing assessments with hypothetical scenarios involving potential environmental change such as those used in this work.
Conceptualization, P.S., R.S., R.W. and H.A.O.; Methodology, P.S., R.S., P.B.-S., and D.A.G.; Data Curation, P.S., R.S. and R.W.; Writing—Original Draft Preparation, P.S., R.S., R.W., P.B.-S., J.C., H.A.O. and D.A.G.; Writing—Review & Editing, P.S., R.S., P.B.-S., J.C., H.A.O. and D.A.G.; Supervision, P.S. and R.S.; Project Administration, P.S., R.S. and R.W.; Funding Acquisition, P.S., R.S. and R.W.
The APC was funded by the Cameron School of Business at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Support for this study was provided by the Caribbean Tourism Organization, the World Resources Institute and the Cameron School of Business at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Additional support was provided by the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies at the University of the West Indies—Cave Hill. Valuable consultation was provided by the Barbados Coastal Zone Management Unit and the Inter-American Development Bank. Mary J. Densmore and Jason A. Walsh provided significant administrative support.
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Figure 1. Predicted value of Change_Intention for different levels of environmental change. The value of Change_Intention measured on Y-axis. Degree of environmental change measured on X-axis.
Table 1. Willingness to return survey questions.
Survey Question (10 Percent Reduction in Quality)
Plan_Return 8. Do you plan to return to Barbados in the future?
Plan to return if beach width changes
(Plan_Return_BW) 21. If beach widths in Barbados were to decrease by 10%, and all other conditions remained the same, would you return to Barbados in the future?
Plan to return if coral health changes
(Plan_Return_CH) 22. If coral reef health in Barbados was to decline by 10%, and all other conditions remained the same, would you return to Barbados in the future?
Plan to return if marine life changes
(Plan_Return_ML) 23. If the quality of marine life (fish, turtles, etc.) in Barbados were to decrease by 10%, and all other conditions remained the same, would you return to Barbados in the future?
Plan to return if seawater quality changes
(Plan_Return_SW) 24. If the cleanliness of sea water in Barbados were to change so that your risk of a stomach infection increased by 10%, and all other conditions remained the same, would you return to Barbados in the future?
(data code) Definitely not (1) Probably not (2) Unsure (3) Probably (4) Definitely (5)
Table 2. Composition of values for Change_Intention Score.
Change_Intention_XX = Plan_Return_XX a − Plan_Return
Losses −4 Definitely No − Definitely Yes
−3 Probably No − Definitely Yes Definitely No − Probably Yes
−2 Unsure − Definitely Yes Probably No − Probably Yes Definitely No − Unsure
−1 Def. No − Prob. No Prob No − Unsure Unsure − Prob. Yes Prob. Yes − Def. Yes
0 No Change
Gains 1 Def. Yes − Prob. Yes Prob Yes − Unsure Unsure − Prob. No Prob. No − Def. No
2 Definitely Yes − Unsure Probably Yes − Probably No Unsure − Definitely No
3 Probably Yes − Definitely No Definitely Yes − Probably No
4 Definitely Yes − Definitely No
a XX is a placeholder for the four environmental changes examined in our survey: beach width (BW), coral health (CH), marine life (ML) and seawater (SW).
Table 3. Descriptive statistics for respondent characteristics.
Std Dev
Environmental Change Degree of environmental change presented in scenario 2548 −10.84 20.96 −50 25
First visit to Barbados = 1 if respondent is had visited Barbados on a prior occasion
= 0 otherwise 2538 0.52 0.49 0 1
Times to Barbados Number of prior trips to Barbados 2476 3.02 6.31 0 100
US Resident = 1 if the respondent is from the US
UK Resident = 1 if the respondent is from the U.K.
Canadian Resident = 1 if the respondent is from Canada
Europe Resident = 1 if the respondent is from other European country
Caribbean Resident = 1 if the respondent is from the Caribbean
Higher Education = 1 if the respondent had at least some college education
Table 4. Summary statistics for participation in coastal and marine recreation and ratings of quality.
Participation in Recreational Activities
Visited the Beach (%) 2459 0.92 0.27 0 1
Went Swimming (%) 2493 0.79 0.39 0 1
Snorkeled (%) 2493 0.42 0.48 0 1
Went Swimming with Turtles (%) 2493 0.37 0.47 0 1
Went Sailing (%) 2493 0.26 0.43 0 1
Went Jet Skiing (%) 2461 0.08 0.26 0 1
Went Power Boating (%) 2493 0.07 0.24 0 1
Went Scuba Diving (%) 2493 0.04 0.19 0 1
5-point Likert Scale Ratings of Coastal/Marine Quality
1 = "lowest quality", 5 = "highest quality"
Quality of Sand on Beaches 2475 4.40 0.84 1 5
Cleanliness and Visibility of Seawater 2441 4.35 0.89 1 5
Natural Character of Beaches 2428 4.31 0.84 1 5
Ease of access to beaches 2445 4.31 0.92 1 5
Ease of getting in and out of the sea 2344 4.21 0.93 1 5
Cleanliness of Beaches 2484 4.19 0.93 1 5
Quality of coral reefs and marine life 1541 4.00 0.92 1 5
Width of Beaches 2449 3.97 0.97 1 5
Table 5. Descriptive statistics for stated intention to return and Change_Intention.
Original stated intention to return Plan_Return 2578 4.33 0.80 1 5
Definitely not 2578 0.005 0.07 0 1
Probably not 2578 0.05 0.21 0 1
Unsure 2578 0.06 0.23 0 1
Probably 2578 0.41 0.48 0 1
Definitely 2578 0.49 0.49 0 1
Intention to return with environmental change Plan_Return_SW 2577 2.94 1.43 1 5
Plan_Return_ML 2561 3.68 1.67 1 5
Plan_Return_CH 2544 3.79 1.08 1 5
Plan_Return_BW 2561 3.85 1.06 1 5
Change in intention to return with environmental change Change_Intention_SW 2577 −1.39 1.45 −4 3
Change_Intention_ML 2561 −0.65 1.07 −4 3
Change_Intention_CH 2544 −0.53 0.95 −4 3
Change_Intention_BW 2561 −0.47 0.89 −4 2
Table 6. Percentage of respondents who changed stated intention to return to Barbados, by severity of environmental change.
Environmental Change
Cleanliness & Visibility of Seawater (SW)
Quality of Marine Life (ML)
Coral Health (CH)
Beach Width (BW)
−50 90.96 66.02 60.22 61.50
−5 71.85 44.21 40.36 31.36
10 9.57 12.06 10.28 6.38
25 11.61 12.36 12.36 10.11
Table 7. General linear regression coefficient estimates. Dependent variable is Change_Intention_XX.
Beach Width
Coral Health
Intercept 2.65 *** 1.05 *** 1.46 *** 1.59 ***
Plan_Return −0.50 *** −0.24 *** −0.31 *** −0.37 ***
envchange −50 −2.56 *** −1.15 *** −1.24 *** −1.50 ***
envchange −5 −1.61 *** −0.51 *** −0.74 *** −0.90 ***
envchange +5 0.03 0.02 −0.06 −0.07
envchange +10 0.05 −0.01 0.02 0.04
Quality Rating a −0.001 0.08 *** 0.06 ** 0.06 **
First Visit to Barbados −0.02 −0.04 −0.15 *** −0.13 **
Previous trips to Barbados 0.01 + 0.002 0.001 0.01 *
US Resident −0.22 *** −0.18 *** −0.09 0.01
UK Resident −0.12 * −0.04 −0.06 0.06
Canada Resident −0.10 −0.09 −0.07 0.07
Caribbean Resident −0.16 −0.18 ** −0.13 −0.03
Went Swimming 0.02 −0.10 ** 0.03 0.03
Went to the Beach −0.16 * 0.04 0.03 0.07
Snorkeled −0.11 ** −0.02 −0.06 −0.11 **
Higher Education −0.21 *** −0.12 *** −0.13 *** −0.12 **
n 2348 2344 1480 1483
R2 0.50 0.249 0.280 0.308
+, *, **, and *** indicate statistical significance at the 15%, 10%, 5% and 1% levels respectively. Standard errors not shown to save space. a Quality ratings are 5-point Likert scale ratings of cleanliness and visibility of seawater, beach width and the quality of corals and marine life.
Table 8. Logit regression coefficient estimates. Dependent variable = 1 if respondent changed response from "definitely" or "probably" will return to "definitely" or "probably" will not return.
Intercept −4.23 *** −3.51 *** −3.50 *** −3.09 ***
Plan_Return 0.75 *** 0.24 ** 0.35 *** 0.47 ***
envchange −50 1.42 *** 1.45 *** 1.22 *** 1.19 ***
envchange −10 0.36 ** 0.17 0.60 ** 0.65 ***
Quality Rating −0.05 −0.29 *** −0.19 ** −0.14 *
First Visit to Barbados 0.18 0.39 ** 0.80 *** 0.52 ***
Previous trips to Barbados −0.02 ** 0.0005 0.01 −0.02
US Resident 0.39 ** 0.88 *** −0.14 −0.34
UK Resident 0.37 ** 0.49 * −0.13 −0.41 *
Canada Resident 0.42 ** 0.68 ** 0.13 −0.25
Caribbean Resident 0.46 * 0.72 * 0.12 −0.08
Went Swimming −0.16 0.52 ** −0.17 −0.16
Went to the Beach 0.41 * −0.11 −0.03 −0.35
Snorkeled 0.36 *** 0.01 0.22 0.36 **
Higher Education 0.35 *** 0.17 0.24 0.17
% of Respondents who changed 60.5 16.1 19.1 25.6
AIC 2057.57 1313.73 961.17 1125.27
2 Log L 2025.57 1281.73 929.17 1093.27
+, *, **, and *** indicate statistical significance at the 15%, 10%, 5% and 1% levels, respectively. Standard errors not shown to save space. a Quality ratings are 5-point Likert scale ratings of cleanliness and visibility of seawater, beach width and the quality of corals and marine life.
Schuhmann, P.; Skeete, R.; Waite, R.; Bangwayo-Skeete, P.; Casey, J.; Oxenford, H.A.; Gill, D.A. Coastal and Marine Quality and Tourists' Stated Intention to Return to Barbados. Water 2019, 11, 1265. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11061265
Schuhmann P, Skeete R, Waite R, Bangwayo-Skeete P, Casey J, Oxenford HA, Gill DA. Coastal and Marine Quality and Tourists' Stated Intention to Return to Barbados. Water. 2019; 11(6):1265. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11061265
Schuhmann, Peter, Ryan Skeete, Richard Waite, Prosper Bangwayo-Skeete, James Casey, Hazel A. Oxenford, and David A. Gill. 2019. "Coastal and Marine Quality and Tourists' Stated Intention to Return to Barbados" Water 11, no. 6: 1265. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11061265


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Home Addiction Alcohol Addiction Alcohol Addiction Centre Alcohol Addiction Centre Batley
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Alcohol Addiction Centre in Batley
Eata Recovery Services shows every Alcohol Addiction Centre in Batley. We will provide you with comprehensive information about each facility and help you make the most informed decision on what is best for your recovery.
Alcohol Addiction Centres in Batley
Professionals are the experts when it comes to alcoholism. Anyone suffering from alcoholism should turn to these professionals. An alcohol addiction centre in Batley can be that place. Choose the right alcohol treatment centre, and you'll gain access to scientific treatment models that address the needs of the patient, thus ensuring that they can overcome alcoholism. And it's never been easier to find alcohol treatment centres in Batley. There are a number of centres providing outpatient and inpatient treatment options.
Most of the alcohol addiction centres in Batley are privately owned. You will find public and charitable options, though. The best piece of advice for beating alcoholism is to choose the rehab centre wisely and get treatment immediately. Don't wait for the right moment.
How Can an Alcohol Addiction Centre in Batley Help?
The primary factor that makes a rehab centre what it is involves therapists and other health professionals treating alcoholism as a health problem, not as a behavioural issue that must be corrected. A good rehab centre in Batley will offer both psychotherapeutic and medical treatments to deal with areas of alcoholism, such as cravings, relapse prevention, and abstention. The reason why Batley alcohol rehab facilities are so effective is they're run by health professionals who have years of experience and knowledge of the latest treatment methods.
The one reason why addiction treatment centres are so popular is they play a pivotal role in providing the therapies necessary for patients to get well. Alcohol addiction treatment facilities in Kirklees's town of Batley utilise cognitive behavioural therapy as one of their most popular treatment options. CBT is a psychotherapeutic treatment that addresses the deepest thoughts and feelings of the alcoholic in order to help him or her understand the roots of addictive behaviour.
When therapists use this tactic, they can grasp why the patient turns towards alcohol. Once they understand this, they can compile a treatment plan to help the patient overcome these behaviours. Therapists will use this as one of their crucial goals-based therapeutic options. It comes with the advantage of being able to be completed within a certain period.
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Is it Possible to Recover from Alcohol Dependence?
Though it may not seem possible for someone in the throes of alcoholism to recover from alcohol dependence, history has proven it to be possible. At nearly every alcohol addiction centre in Batley, there are people suffering from alcohol dependence going through inpatient and outpatient treatment programmes that will eventually lead to full recovery. The 12-step system acts as the heart of any good treatment program. Add in coping strategies and positive reinforcement, and you have the foundation of a successful alcohol recovery plan. Successful treatment requires the alcoholic to accept the treatment, accept they're an alcoholic, and accept that they have to complete this therapy if they're going to achieve a better life.
Are Alcohol Rehab Centres in Batley Medically Supervised?
The choice of treatment, business model, and philosophy is entirely up to the addiction rehab facility in general. Patients, as a general rule of thumb, are given full medical supervision throughout their treatments. The type of medical intervention given depends entirely on the treatment and how it's applied.
In cases that are less severe medical intervention will be limited to the prescription of a drug like disulfiram, Acamprosate, or Naltrexone. After these anti-alcohol drugs have been given, the doctor will refer the patient to a 12-step programme in Batley. Patients are afforded the same doctor or registered the nurse so they can have their treatment monitored by someone who knows them.
Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms
Long-term alcoholics may find that medical supervision forms a key part of detoxification. Patients should never attempt the detox process without the aid of a medical professional. The focus for a doctor during a detox period is to monitor the patient's withdrawal symptoms and to keep the patient as comfortable as possible.
In the event that a medical emergency does arise then those same medical professionals are on hand to offer appropriate care. To avoid a potential relapse, the patient may be prescribed medications after their treatment in Batley. Doctors are there to make the decisions on medication. Patients who're prescribed anti-alcoholism medications are expected to be able to quit drinking.
Alcohol Rehab Facilities – What is Focused Care?
You may find that residential treatment-based rehab facilities in Batley use the term 'focused care' when referring to their services. How is 'focused care' used though? Focused care is used to concentrate a rehab centre's entire resources and use them to increase the chances of helping patients recover from alcoholism. By way of comparison, the NHS is unable to offer focused care simply because they have to treat every illness, disease, and injury they encounter.
Which Mental Health Conditions Do Treatment Facilities Cater To?
Alcohol addiction clinics in Batley can focus entirely on the addiction issue due to their philosophy of concentrating on focused care. Professional therapists will work with patients to help them understand why they're addicted to alcohol and how they can change their behaviours. They'll also work on reducing the chances of experiencing a future relapse.
Residential Rehab – How is Focused Care Used?
Residential rehab uses focused care. But they do it in a way that uses the environment as an advantage. The concept of residential rehab is to provide a change in environment for patients. The sudden change in environment allows them to focus on fully completing their treatment. Alcohol treatment centres in Batley providing residential rehab will always include residential accommodation, counselling areas, a 12-step programme, and physical therapies. Psychotherapeutic treatments will also play a significant role. No alcohol would be allowed on site under any circumstances – that would include beer and all forms of spirits. This type of environment provides a lot of benefits, which should be immediately apparent. Patients aren't able to acquire alcohol, which reduces the possibility of a relapse. They also aren't exposed to the various temptations that could encourage them to return to drinking alcohol.
Featured Alcohol Addiction Centre in Batley
There are many types of Alcohol Addiction Centre available in Batley, including inpatient, luxury, and private Alcohol Addiction Centre.
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How Can You Get Treatment for Alcoholism in Batley?
Finding alcohol addiction treatment in Batley is only the beginning of the overall recovery path. Batley addiction treatment clinics boost their treatment processes by leveraging group support in and around the capital. Participation in a support group's 12-step programme offers recovering alcoholics the tools, support, and accountability they need to prevent relapse.
How Can Alcoholics Use a Batley Support Group to Help Them?
Batley support groups are there to help alcoholics after they experience formal treatment to reduce the chances of a relapse. Anyone who wants to undergo treatment with a support group will likely follow the 12-steps model. Regular weekly meetings include coping strategies and other tactics to keep attendees away from alcohol.
We can help you find support in Batley, within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, including the areas around the Batley bus station, the Batley shopping street, Bagshaw Museum, and beyond.
It is possible to overcome alcohol dependence with the right combination of treatment and support. Look no further than alcohol treatment clinics in Batley. Get in touch with us today for more information.
alcohol addiction centre Links
Where to find alcohol support - Live Well - NHS Choices
Alcohol dependence and withdrawal | Drinkaware
Alcohol addiction - Telegraph.co.uk
Drug and alcohol addiction and obesity: effects on employment outcomes - GOV.UK
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