The impact of tourism on the pattern of economic activity in Portland, Oregon

This research focuses on the measurement of monetary benefits and costs associated with tourism in metropolitan areas. Most studies on the impact of tourism have been at the national or state level and are not directly appropriate to more limited geographic units. The planning agencies and Chambers of Commerce that are normally involved in promoting tourism work with the metropolitan area, a jurisdiction which is different from that on which most previous studies have been done. In this study, an answer to the following research question is sought: Do public expenditures attributable to tourism outweigh the revenue benefits derived from tourism in a metropolitan area, or is the taxpayer subsidizing the tourism industry? The Portland metropolitan area was selected as a case on which to develop a methodology for ascertaining the economic impact of tourism. Since the tourism industry is extensively fragmented, data were collected from several sources to measure its impact. Using these data, a methodology for weighing monetary costs against benefits attributable to tourism was developed. Three methodological sequences were carried out in the study. The first two were models to compute income and employment multiplier effects. These models helped in the development of intermediate inputs applied in executing the last methodological sequence--the monetary benefit-cost model. The analytical findings strongly support the following two hypotheses: (1) Tourism provides significant employment creation and income generation possibilities. (2) Tourism creates more benefits than it causes service costs to the metropolitan area. For example, it was found that the income and employment multiplier effects from tourists\u27 spendings in the area were 1.1024 during the study period. Also, while the metropolitan area spent $27,873,133.80 in providing services to tourists, it realized $33,516,481.17 in monetary benefits from tourists\u27 spendings. when monetary costs were subtracted from benefits, the metropolitan area realized a net monetary benefit of $5.6 million from tourists\u27 spendings in the area