RT journal article
T1 Coastal Sceneries of Albania, An Emerging 3S Destination: Analysis of Physical Characteristics and Human Activity Impacts
A1 Fernández Enríquez, Alfredo
A1 Mooser, Alexis
A1 Anfuso Melfi, Giorgio
A1 García Onetti, Javier
A2 Ciencias de la Tierra
A2 HistoriaGeografía y Filosofía
K1 coastal management
K1 beach typology
K1 fuzzy logic
K1 scenic assessment
K1 landscape
K1 coastal geomorphology
K1 tourism pressure
AB The increase in tourism economic benefits is the most common purpose along theMediterranean coastal regions but, very often, conflicts of interest arise between short-termbenefits and long-term conservation goals. This is particularly the case of Albania, a verypopular emerging “Sun, Sea and Sand” (3S) destination characterized by massive fluxes ofnational/international visitors during the summer period. Among beach users’ preferences,global studies show that five parameters of greater importance stand out from the rest, i.e.,safety, facilities, water quality, no litter, and scenery, and the latter is the main concern ofthis study. Albania is well known for its outstanding natural coastal beauty which wasassessed at 40 sites by using the Coastal Scenic Evaluation System (CSES) method. Based onthe evaluation of 26 physical/human parameters and using weighting matrix parametersand fuzzy logic mathematics, the technique enables one to obtain an Evaluation Index(D) that allows one to classify each investigated site into five scenic classes, from ClassI (extremely attractive natural sites; D ≥ 0.85) to Class V (very unattractive developedurban/industrial sites; D < 0.00). Pragmatically, the higher the “D” value is, the better thesite scenery is. After a long process of field testing along the whole Albanian coastline (ca.523 km in length), selected sites were chosen in rural/remote environments (22), villages (6),and urban (4) and resort areas (8) to reflect the Albanian coastal typicity and characterizethe scenic impact of human activities. Most sites belonged to Class III (14), Class IV (13),Class II (8), and Class I (1). Several sites could be upgraded to Class I or Class II with slightmanagement efforts, e.g., by carrying out cleaning operations or by reducing intrusivebeach facilities.
PB MDPI
SN 2073-445X
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/36448
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/36448
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 10-nov-2026