“How (well) did the fair go?” Estimation of the economic impact of tourist events: three case studies

Abstract

Tourist events should help tourist development of a town and benefit its inhabitants and firms. However it is necessary to understand what features of events determine their economic impact to design them correctly. This research aspires to contribute to that comprehension through the estimation and comparison of the economic impact of three events. In order to estimate the economic impact, we adopted a basic model made up of 3 factors: (1) number of visitors multiplied by (2) average spending per visitor by (3) multiplier. Firstly, we estimated the number of public and professional visitors through several tally methods, personal surveys, and information provided by the organizer of the events. Secondly, we researched the average amounts and types of visitor expenditure by means of a survey; also, we calculated the organisation expenditure of the events using their respective budgets. And, thirdly, we used multipliers of input-output tables to analyse the impact of the direct expenditures on production, added value and employment, and the distribution effects among economic sectors. In addition, we calculated and compared some profitability ratios for the three events and we made some recommendations to increase the economic impact.