Measuring the economic effects of tourism has always been a high priority for private and public actors in the regional economy (Stabler et al 2009). These estimates provide insights about the generation of sales, jobs, and income associated with tourism, but also support industry officials in the regional development agenda. Measuring tourism’s economic impact in a region typically involves economic impact models that capture both primary and secondary effects (Comerio and Strozzi 2019). However, results gained from these models are limited in regards to highly aggregated and growth-oriented indicators on the macro-level.

These economic impact models ‘fulfil’ their purpose in incorporating the assumptions of mainstream economics and in focusing on macro-level indicators related to economic growth (Elsner 2017). That involves the risk that important socio-economic aspects, such as the distribution of income, are less considered in regional tourism development agendas. Even so-called ‘advanced’ models neglect distributional dimensions in estimating the impact of tourism (Lee 2009). Accordingly, a growing body of literature starts criticizing mainstream economics’ modelling assumptions and its narrow view on economic growth (Söderbaum 2017). Instead, economic analyses should put more focus multi-dimensional perspectives, including the institutional (i.e. meso-level) perspective in addition to the traditional macro- and micro view (Dopfer et al. 2004). Furthermore, various forms of inequalities are identified to typically hamper regional development from a socio-economic point of view (Moulaert and Nussbaumer 2005a).

Against this background, the aim of this thesis is to propose a framework that extends traditional economic impact approaches and allows the measurement of tourism impact from a broader socio-economic perspective. The approach in this thesis comprises a macro as well as a meso level analysis and utilizes a mixed-method approach (Dopfer et al. 2004; Khoo-Lattimore et al. 2017). More concretely, the traditional economic impact methodology is further developed in order to estimate disaggregated employment and income effects for specific occupations, and to estimate the income distribution across occupations in major tourism sectors.

This analysis is conducted for the county of Jämtland and comprises the period + time (Daniels et al. 2004). A series of interviews with major regional industry- and policy representatives complements the impact analysis from the meso-level perspective. By doing so, the institutional perspectives helped identifying potential reasons for variations in occupation and income developments in tourism.

Findings show that the traditional way of analysing tourism’s impacts does not only provide the full picture of the impacts, but also even gives potentially misleading information. While, in general, the tourism industry benefits from annually growing arrival numbers in terms of sales, the income level of the tourism workforce remains among the lowest in the entire regional economy. In addition, the income inequality across occupations in the main tourism sector accommodation & food is increasing, indicating a negative trend in the industry. This can be partly attributed to decreasing union membership rates, short-term career perspectives, and increasing shares of occupations without requirements for higher education. Like in other branches, the role of education in the tourism industry is particularly important to overcome these trends.

This study shows that extending traditional ways of analysing the economic impact of tourism by incorporating additional socio-economic dimensions contributes to a better understanding the socio-economic sustainability of the regional tourism industry. By putting the focus away from pure growth-driven indicators, this approach proposes an alternative way for measuring tourism’s impacts, which can, hopefully, be implemented and institutionalized in the future.

Planners and developers in regions showing touristic activities are typically interested in measuring the economic impact of tourism (Dwyer et al. 2004; Klijs et al. 2012; Kim & Kim 2015). However, even ‘advanced’ economic impact models neglect major societal dimensions, such as income equality or the type and quality of occupations in the various tourism-related sectors (Mazumder et al. 2012; Kronenberg et al. 2018). While neo-classic economics is still representing the dominant paradigm (Dobusch & Kapeller 2009), economic impact models ‘fulfill’ their purpose in incorporating the assumptions of mainstream economics and in focusing on macro-level indicators related to economic growth (Elsner 2017). However, a growing body of literature starts criticizing mainstream economics’ modelling assumptions and its narrow view of ‘monetary reductionism’, thus hampering advanced approaches able to consider socio-economic effects (Söderbaum 2017). In their seminal paper on the Social Region, Moulaert & Nussbaumer (2005) argue that the focus of regional development theories should turn away from market competition towards concepts that effectively incorporate dimensions of a region’s social, political, cultural and community development. By doing so, the authors highlight various forms of inequality that typically impede the path towards the Social Region (ibid, 2005b).

Behind this background, the aim of this study is to propose a new approach that allows the measurement of tourism impact from a broader socio-economic perspective. In order to overcome the predominant growth focus, the study of tourism’s socio-economic impact comprises a macro as well as a meso level analysis and utilizes a mixed-method approach (Dopfer et al. 2004). More concretely, the macro level analysis of tourism’s socio-economic impact, first, includes the regionalization of the national Input-Output model to estimate primary and secondary employment and income effects for the Swedish region of Jämtland (Flegg & Tohmo 2011). In contrast to typical economic impact studies in tourism (Mazumder et al. 2012) and in order to estimate employment and income effects for various occupational domains individually and within various tourism-related sub-sectors, we extend the analysis by applying the occupation-based modelling (OBM) approach (Daniels et al. 2004). This approach allows estimating income inequalities and its variations over time (in our case from 2008 to 2015) for major tourism sectors, expressed by Gini coefficients and Lorenz curves, respectively (Lee & Kang 1998). Findings highlight that the incomes in the accommodation & food sector fall below the regional average - the lowest among all tourism-related industries. Interestingly, compared to others sectors (e.g. recreation & entertainment, retail), income inequality within this sector is relatively low (i.e. Gini coefficient = 0.15). However, growing coefficients are pointing at a negative trend over time: Between 2008 and 2013, the income of the top 15% earning occupations increased by 8%, while income of the bottom 15% earning occupations grew only by 1%. The latter occupations comprise seasonal workers, cleaning personal and kitchen assistants. We further analyze and critically discuss occupational developments and related income distributions (i.e. Gini coefficient trends) for major tourism-related sub-sectors of the Swedish region of Jämtland.

The second part of the analysis relates to the meso-level (Dopfer et al. 2004). A series of qualitative interviews with major regional industry and policy representatives (e.g. labor unions, hotel association, etc.) helped identifying potential reasons for variations in occupation and income developments in tourism. Findings show that large parts of low income workers stay in their job for only a short time, implying that newly employed workers are continuously hired at low (i.e. entry-level) wages. Furthermore, because of their expected short-term employment, tourism workers consider union memberships as unnecessary (Kjellberg 2017). Interestingly, the interviews helped identify also promising career opportunities showing steadily increasing income levels. These jobs, however, require higher educational profiles. Like in other branches, only higher education levels seem to overcome the low-income situation in tourism. To conclude, the interviewed industry-representatives perceived the proposed approach of occupation-based modelling and its related findings from measuring income inequalities particularly well. This gives reason for hope that in tourism regions new methods of socio-economic impact analysis will be implemented and institutionalized in the future. 

Mega events are often associated with neoliberal lines of reasoning about short-term job creation and place branding. Their proponents often suggest that events taking place in one locality provide benefits to their surrounding regions and, perhaps, to entire nations. Such arguments often stem from organizing committees and event advocates who defend bidding endeavors. Whereas this has been the dominant narrative for decades (especially concerning mega sporting events), increased attention is starting to be directed towards the potential of events as catalysts for development. In the Swedish region of Jämtland, a research project has been commissioned in connection with the Alpineand Biathlon World Championships, planned to take place during the spring of 2019. Uniquely, both of these events are being hosted in the exact same region only weeks apart. The study aims to examine the aggregated economic and social impacts that these two major events will have on the region as a whole. The economic impact study will apply direct and indirect economic impact modelling whereas the social impacts will be gauged from the perspective of the local community and mapped municipality-by-municipality to understand the spatial distribution of regional social impacts. By taking a holistic approach to event evaluation, we hope to shed light on how communities not immediately adjacent to major sporting events are impacted. Moreover, we will gain a better understanding of how the perceived level of empowerment and ownership of a sporting event, impacts its social legacy. Through an evaluation of direct and indirect impacts on a regional level, this study should shed more light on the true long-term sustainability of major- and mega- sporting events and their ability to act as levers in community development. Findings from the study will be presented at the conference.

Purpose: Previous studies on tourism input-output (IO) primarily focus on a single year’s snapshot or utilize outdated IO coefficients. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the multi-period development of regional tourism capacities and its influence on the magnitude of the industry’s regional economic contribution. The paper highlights the importance of applying up-to-date IO coefficients to avoid estimation bias typically found in previous studies on tourism’s economic contribution.

Design/methodology/approach: For the period 2008-2014, national IO tables are regionalized to estimate direct and indirect economic effects for output, employment, income and other value-added effects. A comparison of Leontief inverse matrices is conducted to quantify estimation bias when using outdated models for analyzing tourism’s economic contribution.

Findings: On the one hand, economic linkages strengthened, especially for labour-intensive sectors. On the other hand, sectoral recessions in 2012 and 2014 led to an economy-wide decline of indirect effects, although tourists’ consumption was still increasing. Finally, estimation bias observed after applying an outdated IO model is quantified by approximately US$4.1m output, 986 jobs full-time equivalents, US$24.8m income and US$14.8m other value-added effects.

Research limitations/implications: Prevailing assumptions on IO modelling and regionalization techniques aim for more precise survey-based approaches and computable general equilibrium models to incorporate net changes in economic output. Results should be cross-validated by means of qualitative interviews with industry representatives.

Practical implications: Additional costs for generating IO tables on an annual base clearly pay off when considering the improved accuracy of estimates on tourism’s economic contribution.

Originality/value: This study shows that tourism IO studies should apply up-to-date IO models when estimating the industry’s economic contribution. It provides evidence that applying outdated models involve the risk of estimation biases, because annual changes of multipliers substantially influence the magnitude of effects.

Practically all Swedes enjoy being out in nature and engaging in outdoor recreation activities. An important reason behind this is that they benefit from the Swedish Public Right of Access (Allemansrätten). Outdoor recreation is highlighted as a major contributor to good health, leads to a higher level of understanding of nature in an urban society, and can function as a means of integration and sustainable development. However, society and our constant search for new experiences are changing as does the practice of outdoor recreation.

It is of interest to identify how different users participate in outdoor recreation and use nature. Previous studies show that outdoor recreation often is conducted close to where we live. Planning and management, along with information, are vital components leading to the accessibility and development of outdoor recreation. Accessibility for outdoor recreation relate to both physical and socio-economic conditions. Today, outdoor recreation for urban dwellers is highly dependent on access to natural areas close to cities, yet open spaces are increasingly under threat due to urban growth and development density. The Public Right of Access places new demands on future planning and management, for example in order to prevent conflicts with private landowners as there may be increased pressure on specific natural areas.

The above issues are analyzed from the results of an online survey conducted in autumn 2016. The survey was sent to 3,000 randomly selected residents in Östersund, Sweden (response rate 32%). Additionally, municipal planning documents are examined. The results show that the respondents do not consider that access to nature is constrained. Rather they feel they lack the time to make full use of this accessibility. They also express a need for more information about nature areas. The results also show that those with higher education and higher income value outdoor recreation higher, but that they also have less time.