Fourth INSTO Insights Webinar: Measurement of Economic Benefits at the Destination Level

The tourism activity in a destination is often a driver of development, triggering desired investments and employment opportunities. To contribute to the desired development objectives of destinations while fostering sustainability, it is important to regularly monitor and evaluate the economic benefits, among them the return on its investment, the direct and indirect employment effects, on taxes earned from tourism businesses, and any increase in asset value (land and infrastructure prices). In addition, tourism causes often indirect economic benefits through the development of support services and increased opportunities in other industries ranging from food and agriculture to crafts and construction.

Indicators of the economic effects of tourism activity in a destination range from measuring employment, business investments, tourism revenues, community expenditures to aspects of leakages. Many of these aspects are considered in the Tourism Satellite Account, the statistical framework that is used as a standardised tool to measure the direct economic contributions of tourism consumption to a national economy.

This INSTO Insights webinar discussed the experiences and insights of INSTO Members and experts on monitoring economic benefits, which is one of the 11 mandatory key issue areas INSTO Members are committed to monitor. Experiences will be shared on used indicators and various methodologies in this regard. The implications of these monitoring efforts in terms of informing policies and strategies will also be discussed.

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