Estimating the Economic Impact of Tourism in the European Union: Review and Computation

Abstract

The article investigates the economic contribution of tourism to the GDP. We review background methodologies, systematically collect data for EU countries, and develop a sound and ready-to-use procedure for computing indirect and total economic impacts. The routine is then applied to selected destinations for which a minimum standard in the quality of data from Tourism Satellite Accounts and Input–Output tables is met. Methodologically, the article provides a tool for estimating the total contribution of tourism to output, gross value added, and employment. Empirically, the comparison of results across EU economies shows a high degree of heterogeneity in the tourism share to GDP, which is critically discussed. Our procedure delivers a key tool to researchers, industry leaders, and policy makers willing to investigate income and employment consequences of scenarios differing in the evolution of tourism demand, something of high relevance in the COVID-19 era.