Measuring the Contribution of Visitor-related employment in Forest Dependent Regions

This paper presents results from an analysis of a ‘visitor sector’ employment study for the Foothills Model Forest. A visitor sector is differentiated from the rest of the economy based on a survey of visitor-related and visitor-driven businesses. An analysis of the survey data is conducted by town (Hinton and Jasper) and by major visitor sector industry (restaurant/hotel, tour/transportation, retail, car repair, and various). Visitor sector employment results are compared to the resource sectors of the FMF in terms of contribution to employment numbers and contribution to the total FMF wage bill. The analysis suggests the visitor sector is the largest employer in the region. However, this finding may be overshadowed by the small economic contribution made by the visitor sector in terms of total and average weekly wages. 1 Forest Social Science Researcher, Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6H 3S5 2 Research Assistant, Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6H 3S5 3 Senior Economist, Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6H 3S5 INTRODUCTION The visitor sector is a source of employment for many forest-dependent areas in Canada and the United States. Its potential to provide jobs and employment income has led governments and local communities to intensify tourist-related development (Duffield, 1982; Fleming and Toepper, 1990; Biggs, 1994). The data is also important for developing regional economic impact models that attempt to measure the visitor as separate from the service sector. Despite its importance there is an absence of accurate visitor related employment data. It is difficult to differentiate visitor expenditures from local expenditures in the service or transportation sectors. Collecting primary data is expensive. As a result cost-effective data collection methods need to be developed. We estimated the size of the visitor employment sector in the Foothills Model Forest (FMF) in central west Alberta, Canada (see Figure 1). The FMF is a 2.7 million hectare area where forestry, oil and gas, mining, and the visitor sector are important contributors to the region’s economy. For an overview of the FMF’s visitor sector see Wellstead, White and Olsen (1999) in this volume. For an analysis of the visitor sector’s impact on the FMF’s economy see Wellstead, Alavalapati, White, and Patriquin (1999) in this volume. The FMF’s major visitor attraction is Jasper National Park, an internationally renowned park. Visitors also enjoy areas outside of the park for the many camping, hiking, and hunting activities available. Figure 1: Location of the FMF For more information on camping and hunting in the FMF see McFarlane and Boxall (1998) at www.fmf.ab.ca. We surveyed visitor-related businesses in the FMF to determine the number and type of employees and their wage and salary contributions to the FMF’s economy. The following section outlines the methods and data. This is followed by the results. The final section discusses the results. METHODS AND DATA The data was derived from mail-out surveys of all visitor driven and visitor related businesses conducted in the FMF between July 3 and July 28, 1998 and a follow-up telephone survey in mid-October, 1998. The survey consisted of five questions. The first question asked how many employees were on staff in an average year (e.g., 1997). This included all part-time, full-time permanent and seasonal staff. The second and fourth questions asked the occupation types of the employees, whether or not they were parttime or full-time, the average number of hours worked per week per person, and whether or not they were seasonal employees. Because of the wide variety of occupation types found in the different types of businesses, question two and four were tailor designed to reflect the occupations associated with a particular business. As a result, five different surveys were developed (car repair/gas station, accommodation, tours/transportation, retail, and various) in order to avoid confusion and make the survey as simple as possible. Question three asked if there were any part-time employees; it was also a transition from the full-time employment question to part-time in question four. The fifth question asked respondents to provide a percentage estimate of their business activity dedicated to visitor related activity. A total of 387 businesses were surveyed: 127 in Hinton and 260 in Jasper. There were 28 refusals and 99 businesses either were closed for the seasons or could not be contacted yielding an overall success rate of 68.2%