Explanation of Indicator
The beach is an important resource for Florida’s residents, providing recreation opportunities and access to wildlife and natural scenery. This indicator differs from state estimates of beach visitations in that it uses self-reporting of state residents and does not include tourist visits. This is important for understanding how residents are using the beach resource and for assessing residents’ potential support for programs to enhance beach characteristics.
Data Characteristics
SOURCE
There is currently no source of data for this information.
ACQUISITION
Not applicable.
COLLECTION
Not applicable.
Recommendations
Currently, the Florida Department of Commerce surveys tourists to determine travel destination, which often include the beaches; however, no data are collected on how often residents use the beaches. An annual survey of Florida residents could be developed to obtain this information.
The Florida Coastal Management Program (FCMP) should develop the Florida Coastal Issue Survey to elicit responses from Florida residents concerning this issue. A survey can measure the general public’s opinions, attitudes, and knowledge concerning coastal issues. The FCMP should conduct an annual telephone survey of Florida’s adult population (ages 18 and over) to elicit responses concerning a variety of coastal management issues. The selection of the telephone numbers should be based on a two stage random digit dialing stratified by coastal and non-coastal county designation. The two stage process ensures a more random sample of residential households; the stratification ensures that the designated coastal and non-coastal counties will have an appropriate proportion of the sample. There should be two sections to the survey: the first section should request general demographic information about the respondent and the household (age, sex, income, # in household, zip code area, etc.); the second section should contain questions about coastal issues.
The survey should contain a question asking respondents how many times they have visited a Florida beach within the last year.
Sample question: How many times have you visited a Florida beach within the past year?
Summary of the responses would show the total visits by surveyed Florida residents within the year. This figure could also be converted to show average attendance per person per year.