monitoring of tourism impacts

1 tourism impacts

The impacts of tourism can be sorted into seven general categories:
1. Economic
2. Environmental
3. Social and cultural
4. Crowding and congestion
5. Services
6. Taxes
7. Community attitude
Each category includes positive and negative impacts. Not all impacts are applicable to every community because conditions or resources differ. Community and tourism leaders must balance an array of impacts that may either improve or negatively affect communities and their residents. Leaders must be sensitive and visionary, and must avoid the temptation of glossing over certain difficulties tourism development creates. Tourism leaders must also balance the opportunities and concerns of all community sectors by working against conditions where positive impacts benefit one part of the community (geographic or social) and negative impacts hurt another (Kreag, 2001).

2 monitoring of tourism impacts
When monitoring - measuring the impacts of tourism, it is theoretically possible to identify two phases:
1. Phase of processing the methodology and standards of collection, sorting and processing 2. The actual phase of working with data

2.1 Standard methods of monitoring
In general, it is possible to use standard methods of monitoring to record the real processes which can be divided into:
The methods applied on the spot:
1. questionnaire survey, in which we ask the questions: a) direct participants of tourism in order to find out detailed information about their behavior, b) service providers, about the number and characteristics of accommodation, carriers, catering facilities and other providers of additional services
2. observation, e.i. number of passing vehicles records, behavior of tourists, number of tourists, waste production, ..
"communication methods", which, thanks to the development of IT technologies, belong to innovative methods of monitoring the tourism impacts
1. telephone survey, which is used for monitoring abroad and it is based on connection with the local community on the phone to identify and map the tourism impacts in the community (mainly social and cultural impacts of tourism on the local population are monitored)
2. questionnaire survey, which is not done on the spot, but on the Internet, in this case, the questions must be asked with regard to possible differences.
Statistical methods can be divided into two groups:
1. Monitoring of demand (e.g. average visitor spending ...),
2. Monitoring of supply (e.g. number of beds / rooms in accommodation facilities ...) (Ščuroková, Sehnálková, 2013)

2.2 Economic impacts of tourism monitoring
Tourism’s economic impacts are an important consideration in state, regional and community planning and economic development. Economic impacts are also important factors in marketing and management decisions. Communities therefore need to understand the relative importance of tourism to their region, including tourism’s contribution to economic activity in the area.
A variety of methods, ranging from pure guesswork to complex mathematical models, are used to estimate tourism’s economic impacts. Studies vary extensively in quality and accuracy, as well as which aspects of tourism are included. Technical reports often are filled with economic terms and methods that non-economists do not understand. On the other hand, media coverage of these studies tend to oversimplify and frequently misinterpret the results, leaving decision makers and the general public with a sometimes distorted and incomplete understanding of tourism’s economic effects.
Tourism has a variety of economic impacts. Tourists contribute to sales, profits, jobs, tax revenues, and income in an area. The most direct effects occur within the primary tourism sectors --lodging, restaurants, transportation, amusements, and retail trade. Through secondary effects, tourism affects most sectors of the economy. An economic impact analysis of tourism activity normally focuses on changes in sales, income, and employment in a region resulting from tourism activity.
A standard economic impact analysis traces flows of money from tourism spending, first to businesses and government agencies where tourists spend their money and then to :
· other businesses -- supplying goods and services to tourist businesses,
· households – earning income by working in tourism or supporting industries, and
· government -- through various taxes and charges on tourists, businesses and households
Formally, regional economists distinguish direct, indirect, and induced economic effects. Indirect and induced effects are sometimes collectively called secondary effects. The total economic impact of tourism is the sum of direct, indirect, and induced effects within a region. Any of these impacts may be measured as gross output or sales, income, employment, or value added.
Direct effects are production changes associated with the immediate effects of changes in tourism expenditures. For example, an increase in the number of tourists staying overnight in hotels would directly yield increased sales in the hotel sector. The additional hotel sales and associated changes in hotel payments for wages and salaries, taxes, and supplies and services are direct effects of the tourist spending.
Indirect effects are the production changes resulting from various rounds of re-spending of the hotel industry 's receipts in other backward-linked industries (i.e., industries supplying products and services to hotels). Changes in sales, jobs, and income in the linen supply industry, for example, represent indirect effects of changes in hotel sales. Businesses supplying products and services to the linen supply industry represent another round of indirect effects, eventually linking hotels to varying degrees to many other economic sectors in the region.
Induced effects are the changes in economic activity resulting from household spending of income earned directly or indirectly as a result of tourism spending. For example, hotel and linen supply employees, supported directly or indirectly by tourism, spend their income in the local region for housing, food, transportation, and the usual array of household product and service needs. The sales, income, and jobs that result from household spending of added wage, salary, or proprietor’s income are induced effects.
By means of indirect and induced effects, changes in tourist spending can impact virtually every sector of the economy in one way or another.

2.3 Multiplier in tourism
Multipliers capture the secondary economic effects (indirect and induced) of tourism activity. Multipliers have been frequently misused and misinterpreted in tourism studies (Archer, 1984) and are a considerable source of confusion among non-economists. Multipliers represent the economic interdependencies between sectors within a particular region’s economy. They vary considerably from region to region and sector to sector. There are many different kinds of multipliers reflecting which secondary effects are included and which measure of economic activity is used (sales, income, or employment).
Napríklad:
TYPE 1 sales multiplier = direct sales + indirect sales/direct sales
TYPE 2 sales multiplier = direct sales + indirect sales + induced sales/direct sales
TYPE 3 Income multiplier = Total direct, indirect, and induced income/direct sales
TYPE 4 Employment multiplier = Total direct, indirect, and induced employment/ direct sales

The economic impacts of tourism are typically estimated by some variation of the following simple formula:

Economic Impact of Tourism = Number of Tourists * Average Spending per Visitor * Multiplier

2.4 Types of economic analyses for tourism impacts
There is a number of economic analyzes that can be applied also to measure the impacts of tourism. Some of the analyzes are mentioned and divided into groups according to the object of study.
Fiscal impact analysis - identifies changes in demands for government utilities and services resulting from some action and estimates the revenues and costs to local government to provide these services (Burchell and Listokin, 1978).
Economic impact analysis – An economic impact analysis traces the flows of spending associated with tourism activity in a region to identify changes in sales, tax revenues, income, and jobs due to tourism activity. The principal methods here are visitor spending surveys, analysis of secondary data from government economic statistics, economic base models, input-output models and multipliers. (Frechtling, 1994)
Financial analysis - A financial analysis determines whether a business will generate sufficient revenues to cover its costs and make a reasonable profit. It generally includes a short-term analysis of the availability and costs of start-up capital as well as a longer-range analysis of debt service, operating costs and revenues. A financial analysis for a private business is analogous to a fiscal impact analysis for a local government unit.
Demand analysis - A demand analysis estimates or predicts the number and/or types of visitors to an area via a use estimation, forecasting or demand model. The number of visitors or sales is generally predicted based on judgement (Delphi method), historic trends (time series methods), or using a model that captures how visits or spending varies with key demand determinants (structural models) such as population size, distance to markets, income levels, and measures of quality & competition (Walsh 1986, Johnson and Thomas 1992).
Environmental Impact assessment – An environmental assessment determines the impacts of a proposed action on the environment, generally including changes in social, cultural, economic, biological, physical, and ecological systems. Economic impact assessment methods are often used along with corresponding measures and models for assessing social, cultural and environmental impacts. Methods range from simple checklists to elaborate simulation models (Williams, 1994).

2.5 Environmental impacts monitoring
Areas with high-value natural resources, like oceans, lakes, mountains, unique flora and fauna, and great scenic beauty attract tourists and new residents who seek emotional and spiritual connections with nature. Because these people value nature, selected natural environments are preserved, protected, and kept from further ecological decline.
Lands that could be developed can generate income by accommodating the recreational activities of visitors. Tourist income often makes it possible to preserve and restore historic buildings and monuments. Improvements in the area’s appearance through cleanup or repairs and the addition of public art such as murals, water fountains, and monuments (part of making a community ready for tourism) benefit visitors and residents alike. Tourism is generally considered a "clean" industry, one that is based on hotels, restaurants, shops and attractions, instead of factories.
Tourism can also degrade an environment. Visitors generate waste and pollution (air, water, solid waste, noise, and visual). Natural resource attractions can be jeopardized through improper uses or overuse. Where water is scarce, tourists can overwhelm the available supply.
Travellers can also inadvertently introduce no indigenous species, as can increases in the trade of animals and plants. A constant stream of visitors and domestic pets may disrupt wildlife by disturbing their breeding cycles and altering natural behaviours.
It is therefore necessary to consider the environmental effects of tourism. Appropriate way to assess this issue is to use the DPSIR causal chain.
Driving force (driver)- Describes social, demographic, and economic developments. Primary driving forces are population growth and changes in people’s needs and activities. These change lifestyles and overall levels of production and consumption, which in turn exert pressures on the environment.
Pressure - Tracks people’s use of natural resources and land, and production of waste and emissions (for example, greenhouse gases and particulates into the air). These pressures can change environmental conditions.
State - Describes the quantity and quality of the environment and natural resources (for example, water quality, air quality, or land cover).
Impact - Describes the effects that environmental changes have on environmental or human health (for example, the level of human illness related to exposure to air pollution).
Response - Describes responses by government, organisations, or the community to prevent, compensate, ameliorate, or adapt to changes in the environment (for example, the introduction of regulations such as national environmental standards and legislative initiatives to protect native vegetation and biodiversity).
The DPSIR model shows how human activity (also known as a driver or driving force) exerts pressure on the environment and, as a result, changes the state of the environment. The state of the environment can have impacts on people’s health, ecosystems, and natural resources. These impacts can result in responses in the form of management approaches, policies, or actions that alter the driving forces, pressures, and, ultimately, the state of the environment. Changes in impacts over time can result in people modifying their response to those impacts (European Environment Agency, 2003).

3 sources of tourism impacts
Knowing the nature of tourism impacts will not automatically lead to solutions. It is equally important to identify the sources of these impacts and how they influence interactions between tourists and residents, the host community, and the environment. Researchers generally divide these impact sources into two groups: tourist factors and destination factors. Tourist factors are those which tourists bring to the destination and include such elements as demographic characteristics, social differences, and numbers of visitors. Destination factors are those that are part of the destination itself, such as travel linkage and circulation, local acceptance of tourism, and local vitality and leadership.
Tourist factors: Number and type of visitors, Length of stay, Mass arrivals and departures, Links to community residents, Ethnic/racial characteristics, Economic characteristics, Activities selected, Ability to speak local language/accents, "Demonstration effect" of tourists
Destination factors: Local economic condition, Diversification of the economy, Degree of involvement in tourism, Attitudes of tourism leaders, Spatial characteristics of tourism development, Viability of the host culture, History of stability in the community, Pace of tourism development, Fragility of the environment used by tourists, Public transportation options (Kreag, 2001).

Links: to community residents, Ethnic/racial characteristics, Economic characteristics, Activities selected, Ability to speak local language/accents, "Demonstration effect" of tourists Destination factors: Local economic condition, Diversification of the economy, Degree of involvement in tourism, Attitudes of tourism leaders, Spatial characteristics of tourism development, Viability of the host culture, History of stability in the community, Pace of tourism development, Fragility of the environment used by tourists, Public transportation options (Kreag, 2001).