Tourism Dependence in Rural America: Estimates and Effects

reshaping rural America. Efforts to evaluate the efSects of such development are complicated because residents and nonrecreation visitors also use the businesses that are afj*ected by recreation and tourism visitors. We present a method for esti-mating in nonmetropolitan counties jobs and income that are generated by rec-reation and tourism visitors from outside the county. Several diflerent techniques are used to (1) cluster similar counties, (2) account for the portion of tourism sector employment that serves local residents, and (3) account for the portion of export activity that serves nonrecreation visitors. Finally, we address the consequences of recreation dependence in rural counties. The counties most dependent on nonlocal tourism activity are compared to other rural counties on income, population, eco-nomic structure, and housing variables. Keywords economic structure, minimum requirements, nonmetropolitan counties, recreation dependence, rural development, tourism dependence Natural resources provide the amenity base for a rising level of tourism in rural America. Over the past 50 years, many amenity-based rural communities have shifted from an economy based on manufacturing to one driven by retail and service sectors. Tourists seeking natural resource-based settings, tranquility, and adventure have affected rural economies by injecting new dollars into local businesses, sup-porting local tax bases, and creating increased demands for locally available land, labor, and capital. With regard to recreational use of natural resources, tourist expenditures create local demands for traded goods and services, thus creating job