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Technical papers
Exploring the Full Economic Impact of Tourism for Policy Making - Extending the Use of the Tourism Satellite Account through Macroeconomic Analysis Tools
Summary:
The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) is a unique tool now available to policymakers in many countries to document the direct Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment contributions of tourism to national economies.Policymakers are also interested in estimating other aspects of the economic impact of tourism by using TSA data to estimate the income and government revenue generated by Tourism Consumption and incorporating the secondary effects of this spending on the economy. These secondary effects “multiply” the impacts of tourism through engaging additional suppliers and households in servicing Tourism Expenditure. Moreover, policymakers seek to understand how external and policy-induced “shocks” to the economy will affect tourism’s contributions.Three macroeconomic analysis tools are available for policy-makers to extend the understanding of the economic benefits of Tourism Expenditure: the Input-Output Model, the Social Accounting Matrix and the Computable General Equilibrium Model. This paper summarizes each of these in turn, describes their relationships, discusses strengths and weaknesses, and suggests how TSA data can be used as input in deriving estimates of the overall economic impact of tourism. Such analysis is the precondition for an accurate understanding of tourism as part of a national economy, enabling the integration of tourism into broader economic policy.
Full Report: "Exploring the Full Economic Impact of Tourism for Policy Making"
Positioning Tourism in Economic Policy: Evidence and Some Proposals
Summary
With the rapid growth and diversification of tourism over the years has come the need for a more complete understanding of this global phenomenon and the measurement of its real impact on national economies. The increasingly significant effects of tourism on not only overall economic activity, but also on host communities (employment, social fabrics, etc.) and on the natural and built environment have engendered a pressing need for data to mainstream tourism into national and international economic agendas and support public policies. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has put in place a powerful conceptual framework for gathering statistics and indicators relevant not only for the tourism sector but also for the broader economic context that tourism is embedded in. This paper provides an overview of available official data, such as that from Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA), to better understand the importance of tourism as an economic sector. The data relates tourism to other economic sectors as well as allows tourism to be monitored as an important part of international and national agendas.
Full Report: "Positioning Tourism in Economic Policy: Evidence and Some Proposals"
UNWTO Questionnaire on Tourism and Employment: Overview of Results
With the prospect of the T.20 meeting in Korea and in order to provide participating countries with some suggested areas for further actions and research, UNWTO decided to supplement the valuable information gathered in an earlier (2009) questionnaire with a slightly updated version of it, this time only to T.20 countries.
Just as in 2009, the 2010 Questionnaire attempted to gauge countries‘ accomplishments, expectations and concerns in the field of tourism employment. The 2010 version adopted from the 2009 version the common statements repeatedly made in tourism circles and included an additional section on areas of interest‘.
Overall, the responses reveal some very interesting, recurring issues that the UNWTO Secretariat believes should be carefully considered, serving as topics for discussion among National Tourism Administrations (NTAs) of T.20 and non-T.20 countries alike. All these topics are associated to the uneven distribution of tourism activity and its related employment across a range of variables: geographic territory, occupational segments, and production units. Compared to the 2009 results, respondents take a clearer position in challenging seemingly apparent causal relationships by bringing forward evidence (or the lack thereof), pointing to mediating effects, and proposing areas that require further work and consideration.
Questionnaire on Tourism and Employment: Overview of Results
Proyecto Gobernanza para el sector turismo - Informe ejecutivo
Resumen
El contenido del presente documento tiene por objeto dar a conocer los resultados obtenidos en la primera fase de un proyecto de investigación que la OMT lanzó sobre "Gobernanza para el Sector Turismo", contratado con la finalidad de establecer un marco analítico y propositivo que sustente los procesos de toma de decisión en la construcción de la gobernanza en el sector turismo. De conformidad con los objetivos trazados, corresponde a esta primera fase la identificación, análisis, establecimiento y evaluación de cuál es el estado del arte en materia de gobernanza turística, así como la determinación de los hitos y componentes que pueden articular un sistema de gobernanza para el turismo, explicando y evaluando sus eventuales alcances e impactos al interior del Secretariado de la OMT y hacia las Administraciones Nacionales de Turismo.
Documento completo: "Proyecto Gobernanza para el sector turismo - Informe ejecutivo" (only available in Spanish)
Case Study of the Sultanate of Oman, 2003-2007: Employing the Macroeconomic Indicators in Analysis and TSA Development
Summary
The case study illustrates the two complementary ways in which the UNWTO macroeconomic indicators can be employed to provide valuable information. The first is in making an analytical overview of the importance of tourism in an economy, and the second is in enhancing the developments towards an experimental Tourism Satellite Account (by offering a frame of reference and verification).
Firstly, the analysis shows that tourism has a persistent importance in the general macroeconomic performance of the Sultanate of Oman. As a matter of fact, in its non-oil economy, the importance of tourism is greater than what the related general macroeconomic indicators for 2003-2007 suggest. Moreover, the tourism sector has to a large extent not reflected the turbulence of the international situation. To a certain degree, this is due to the fundamental stability of the economy, independently from the fact that the oil market has been favourable. This may be an explanation for the recurrence of a certain segment of inbound tourism that apparently does not change its preferences in the short term. In other words, Oman may be enjoying a quite inelastic tourism demand.
Secondly, the early developments towards Oman’s experimental TSA have benefited from iterative comparison to the macroeconomic indicators and have resulted in an aggregate estimation of the economic contribution of tourism, presented here, that prospects a quite auspicious future.
Full Report "Case Study of the Sultanate of Oman, 2003-2007: Employing the Macroeconomic Indicators in Analysis and TSA Development"
