Resumen de Uses and abuses of economic impact studies in tourism

Semoon Chang, Hwa-Kyung Kim, Katarina Petrovcikova

• Economic impact studies are used widely either to secure financial support for an event or to promote an organization or an event. The very nature of impact studies tends to lead to an overestimation of the impact. Discussed in this article are such issues as: types of economic impact, ticketed events versus open-gate events, short-term events such as festivals versus long-term attractions such as parks and museums, offsetting impact within the jurisdiction, treatment of nonwage expenditures, appropriate use of multipliers, especially in short-term or one-time events, and daily expenditures per visitor based on survey of visitors to two festivals in Alabama and Mississippi. The main conclusion is that public sector subsidy to short-term events should be based more on their role in enhancing the area's quality of life than on their estimated economic impact.