Regional Economic Analyses of Forest Products and Tourism Sectors in North Carolina

We analyzed the economic contributions of the forest products sector and tourism sector in North Carolina based on the 1977 and 1996 IMPLAN model. We also used various other data bases to examine regional impacts of forest products and tourism components of the North Carolina economy. As of 1996, forest products firms employed 105,000 people and the tourism industry employed about 91,000 people. Total employee compensation in the wood based industries was $3.2 billion; for tourism it was $1.4 billion. Thus the average wood based industry annual wage was $30,800; the average tourism sector annual wage was $15,500. The state average annual wage was $26,500. Industrial output was $13.5 billion for the forest products industry in 1996, and $3.9 billion for the tourism sector. Thus the forest products sector had greater economic impacts on the state's economy in 1996 than tourism. But from 1977 to 1996, the wood based industries grew more slowly than the rest of the state's economy, and tourism sectors grew much more rapidly. POPULATION AND ECONOMIC TRENDS We analyzed the regional economic impacts of forest products manufacturing and nature-based tourism using various economic data sets and modelin