RT journal article
T1 A Novelty Methodological Approach to Coastal Scenic Quality Evaluation—Application to the Moroccan Mediterranean Coast
A1 Er-Ramy, Noureddine
A1 Nachite, Driss
A1 Anfuso Melfi, Giorgio
A1 Azaaouaj, Soria
A2 Ciencias de la Tierra
K1 scenic quality
K1 seaside tourism
K1 landscape dimensions
K1 litter and sewage
K1 preservation
AB Many tourists around the world are interested in coastal sites of exceptional scenic quality.This paper aims to assess the landscape quality of 50 sites along the Moroccan Mediterraneancoast based on a novelty Coastal Scenic Quality Evaluation (CSQE) method able to classify theattractiveness of the sites and to distinguish exceptional ones with high tourist potential. Thisproposed methodology relies on evaluating coastal areas through easily obtainable indicators inorder to simplify its application to other regions around the world. Four landscape dimensionswere selected: Substratum, Sea-Coastal Area, Vegetation and Scenic Background. Each dimensionwas numerically assessed and ranged from 0 to 1. The values of each dimension along thesites were classified as: <0.2 (very low); 0.2 to <0.4 (low); 0.4 to <0.6 (medium); 0.6 to <0.8 (high)and  0.8 (very high). The results show that the overall scenic quality score of the Moroccan Mediterraneancoast is 0.6 (high quality), reflecting a potential tourist destination of high scenic value. Substratum,Sea-Coastal Area and Vegetation dimensions obtained a high quality score (0.6 to <0.8), whilethe Scenic Background dimension recorded medium quality (0.4 to <0.6). Urbanization, the presenceof litter and sewage evidence were the main factors of degradation of the Moroccan coastal landscapes,i.e., 32 out of 50 sites (64%) obtained low scores (from 0 to 2) for these three variables. Soundmanagement actions have to be taken to reduce their impacts, in order to preserve and improve thenatural landscape, and strength its capacity to host the various tourist activities.
PB MDPI
SN 2077-1312
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/31981
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/31981
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 10-may-2026