A method for estimating the economic contribution of resource-based tourism

Resource-based tourism is an important economic activity occurring on publicly owned forested lands in northern Canada. However, little is known about the economic contribution of this sector to the regions where it is located. This paper describes a method to estimate revenues generated by tourist operators from data sources that are primarily in the public domain. The method is illustrated with an examination of northern Ontario's resource-based tourism sites that are not accessible by road. This method estimates that the 1137 tourist sites of the region generated approximately $114 million in revenues in 2000. The analysis also estimated revenues for six sub-regions and for different types of operations that were segmented by accessibility and accommodation type. We found that revenues were much higher for sites in northwestern than in northeastern regions of Ontario, and that float plane-accessible sites commanded significantly greater revenues than did train- or boat-accessible sites.