Tourism figures don’t lie, they muliply,
as officials add up products and services
Continued from Page 28
pact” — in others words how dollars spent
on travel multiply as they ripple through the
economy — to come up with figures like $5
spent in the economy for every one on travel
product X.
As for “impact,” those are numbers relat-
ed to job creation, tax generation and other
contributions to the public good.
Sachs gives a typical example of the mul-
tiplication effect:
“Say I take my wife away for a weekend
in New York. We stay in a hotel and see a
few shows. The hotels and the theaters are
buying supplies, food and other products
and services, so the numbers showing indirect effects like multipliers and impact
track that.”
These impact and multiplier numbers are
frequently the ones that show up in press re-
leases and publicly released reports.
The WTTC is not shy about using those
numbers because it is clear in its mission:
“To raise awareness of the full economic
impact of the travel and tourism industry,
employing some 200 million people and
generating over 10% of the world’s gross
domestic product. Governments are encouraged to unlock the industry’s potential
by adopting the council’s policy framework
for sustainable tourism development.”
The TIA, the most popular source for in-
formation on spending in the U.S., trumpets
a “trickle-down effect” that results in travel
and tourism being a $1.3 trillion industry.
According to a TIA report, “It is not
unrealistic to assume a rollover of four
times for a community, especially knowing how many local services are used to
support the industry.”
Even a “mom and pop” industry segment
feels the need to assert its cumulative size.
Pam Horovitz, CEO of the Professional
Innkeepers Association International, which
claims $3.2 billion in revenues, said, “
Having this number is useful when dealing with
media to show that we have quite a large
niche.”
Ergo, numbers equal clout.
Continued on Page 34
Impact and multiplier
numbers are frequently the
ones that show up in press
releases and publicly released
reports.
