Surveys Applied to the Improvements of Beaches. Case Studies: Las Canteras, Hoya Pozuelo and Salinetas (Gran Canaria Island, Spain)

Abstract

In numerous countries, beaches are essential for the attraction of tourism. The users of the beaches are becoming more demanding in terms of their expectations of the state and quality of beaches and their surrounding environment. The current trend in engineering is to listen carefully to the opinions of users to take them into account in decision-making. The consideration of sociological studies based on surveys is already contemplated in beaches. Generally, the design of the survey is done individually for each beach, which prevents a simple comparison between different beaches. The research referred to in this abstract has sought to resolve this issue. This research has focused on the island of Gran Canaria (Spain), where beach tourism is essential within the island economy. The beaches analyzed are: Las Canteras, Hoya Pozuelo and Salinetas. Firstly, an analysis of the survey techniques has been developed, and how it has been applied to beaches. The research includes a technical study from the point of view of coastal engineering. A specific survey has been developed, which has subsequently allowed a field work to be carried out, with results of around 450 surveys. The statistical study of the results of the surveys has allowed analyzing the answers of each one of the questions in each beach, to later compare the three beaches. As a result of the analysis of the surveys, but also of the engineering study of the beaches included in this research, a strategy of improvement of each one of the beaches has been proposed with the aim of achieving greater user satisfaction. It is therefore a case to ben be taken as an example for the future when looking for synergies between engineering studies and sociology.