Tourism Matters – Measuring the economic impact of tourism

Situation:
With tourism driving the economy in an Alberta community, there was a desire to quantify the impact of tourism on the community, to gather information from tourists to ensure their needs were being met, and to identify opportunities for tourism investment.

Our approach:
We conducted a survey with a sample of travelers to the area during the high season to ask them questions about the activities, events or attractions that most attracted them to the community, how they felt about the services they received, and their spending patterns and demographics. The resulting analysis suggested the dollar value that tourism had in the community. We identified several key trends in travel to the region, specific areas to help tourist service providers improve their operations, and opportunities for tourism investment.