The Impact of Tourism on Employment in Denmark: Different Definitions, Different Results

Abstract

Using primary Danish statistics and a comprehensive Danish input–output table, we estimate that a total of 63 500 persons were employed in Denmark in 1991 as a result of tourism. This includes job creation resulting from tourist stays at destinations in Denmark. Separate calculations are made for different tourist nationalities and for the various types of accommodation involved. Calculations made by the Danish Tourist Board produced a figure of approximately 94 400 tourism-related jobs in Denmark. Recently, The 1995 WTTC Report stated that 290 000 jobs in Denmark in 1991 could be associated with travel and tourism. This figure is based on US primary statistics and a German input–output table. By studying the footnotes, statistics and mathematics in the various reports on tourism employment in Denmark, we are able to explain the discrepancies. They come from understandable and detectable differences in delimitations and definitions of tourism.