I think I have swam at that water park!
I think I have swam at that water park!
With the recent discussions about the Olympics and the Super Bowl as ways to attract new businesses, I started to wonder how important is tourism to your community? More so, when attracting tourists is it for a short term visit, or as Richard Florida would hope, to attract them as new residents?
Additionally, do you think that cities use the tourism card as a marketing tool for new non-tourist based development?
When compassion exceeds logic for too long, chaos will ensue. - Unknown
we are looking into what's termed sustainable tourism in partnership with our Chamber and Friends of Acadia - we get anywhere between 2 and 3 million people a year here as well as many cruise ships in the fall (Queen Mary, sometimes 3 a day, which is 5 to 6 thousand people bottled into our pier) - so it has its ups and downs of course - striking the balance is the key, just like any land use policy
since I'm in the middle of my comp plan, I am just now getting to this issue and in a few weeks I will have some numbers - once I have them, I will post them in here for you
Do you have a local or regional Convention and Visitors' Buerau? They should have some data or the State Tourism Department? There is hard data out there, I'll try to think of some national interest groups that have done research.Originally posted by PlannerByDay
Tourism is a strong industry and brings money to the community. It's particularly popular because it's a way to increase taxes without pissing off the residents. That's why hotel taxes are so high--only nonlocals pay. The downside is the jobs tourism creates are mostly minimum wage, part time, and seasonal. Tourism doesn't produce many livable-wage jobs for residents; most of the money the tourists bring goes towards profit for business owners and tax revenue, the salaries are mostly minimum-wage. Sure that money is spread throughout the community through the multiplier effect, but job quality is left wanting. The real winners are the business owners and the state sales tax revenues; workers' salaries come in third.
The MIchigan State University Dept. of Park Recreation and Tourism Resources looks to have some good models, updated with 2004 indices, maybe you just need a more helpful contact there someone can recommend. The Money Generation model looks great, I'm assuming it was made for localities to punch in their numbers. If you haven't got anyone in your office who can do it, ask if there's a student who would do it for class credit. They have a Michigan Tourism Economic Impact Model (MITEIM); someone there can help you plug and chug.
Check the Travel Industry Association of America and the Office of Travel & Tourism Industries--U.S. Department of Commerce.
I found this analysis: Economic Impacts of Tourism (Primer) Stynes, Daniel. Michigan State Univ.
at this link:
http://www.edrgroup.com/edr1/library...sm/index.shtml
Stynes also did an economic impact of Michigan museums in 2002; you need to contact him.
Also: Michigan Hotel, Motel and Resort Association--looks like they sponsor conferences with quantitative research.
The state had impact studies of snow sports. Data a few years old is better than some general national average. You can always convert 1998 dollars to 2006 dollars.
Last edited by CosmicMojo; 28 Feb 2006 at 6:10 PM.
There is a need to be cautious in using models developed in a particular state, as they often embed statistical information (average ength of stay, average expenditures and distribution among economic sectors, etc.) which may not be applicable even in an adjoining state. You can typically generate an estimate of hotel nights based on lodging tax receipts and a good estimate of the average cost per room. If you know the percentage of guests who are staying in paid lodging vs. with family or friends, you can get a pretty good picture of the total number of overnight stays in the commnity. States will typically have research on the spending habits of overnight guests, and from this, you can get a rough estimate of the amount of money they spend.
In a community I am working with, their impact is about 2-3% on retail and 25% on restaurants.
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I don't have any hard figures, but tourism is one of the largest industries in UT. Our state is the midst of it's largest budget surplus in history, mostly due to tourism. There was a fear that after the Olympics in SLC, a lot of the smaller hotesl, particularly those in the suburbs, would close down and be vacant. It just hasn't happened. Skier visits are setting records every single year. I red in some magazine that the average skier on vacation in UT spends close to $200 a day and the average vacation is 5 days. last year, we had something like 1.8 million skier days (the total number of skiers from each day during the entire season, with roughly half of those days done by tourists). The Salt Palace Convention Center has been expanded 3 times and is undergoing a fourth expansion right now since it was orignally completed in the mid 90's. The airport handled more passengers last year that it ever has.
I think the general concensus in UT is to have the tourits come, spend their money, and then leave.
New code needs economic impact analysis
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