2020-01-13 GC Agenda - Item 10 - Attachment 2 - The Value of Tourism to the Noosa Community October 2019 FINAL REPORT

3.       Economic Impact of Tourism in Noosa
As identified in all the policy documents for Noosa (refer Appendix 1), Tourism is an
important industry in the Shire. Exports in this context refer to tourism products and service
provided to anyone from outside of Noosa who visits. These visitors bring new money into
the local economy. This money is subject to a ‘multiplier effect’ as the money spent at hotels
or restaurants (for example) is passed on to local suppliers and workers. This money
contributes to the economy via value-added, which is the contribution the industry makes to
gross regional product (GRP) and can be thought of as the revenue gained (sales) minus the
costs. Increasing the amount of money flowing into the local economy is important for
economic development.

Economic development refers to growing a local economy. This means growth in economic
activity such as more exports of local produce or products, or, in relation to tourism, more
visitors spending money in Noosa. Growth, in turn, allows businesses to invest in new
equipment, hire more people and pay higher wages. Greater economic activity also means
higher government revenues and more money to spend on better quality services for the
community. Economic development enables a higher standard of living for people.

The economic benefits of tourism on Noosa have been estimated previously by economy.id
and Lucid Economics.

The economic value of Tourism to Noosa

The id modelling commissioned for Noosa Shire produced estimates of value of tourism and
hospitality via four measures:

     •   Employment (total): This is an estimate of the number of people employed in the
         tourism and industry regardless of their employment status (full-time, part-time,
         casual etc.).
     •   Employment (FTE): FTE employment is simply aggregate hours worked by all
         persons employed divided by 38 hours per week to give a full-time equivalent
         estimation.
     •   Output/Sales: Output is the total value of sales generated over a financial year.
     •   Value-added: Value added is the value of sales generated by an industry, minus the
         cost of its inputs (e.g. materials, labour, depreciation, services provided).

The above measures are considered in terms of direct impacts (employment and sales
directly in tourism) and indirect impacts. Indirect impacts are as a result of the flow-on
effects to other related intermediate industries (such as suppliers), as well as the increase in
local consumption created by the wages and salaries of tourism and hospitality workers,
which in turn creates additional employment and sales in other sectors.

Direct measures should be used when referring to the number of workers and value created
in the tourism industry itself. The total value-added and employment estimates (direct plus
indirect) can be used when discussing the overall impact that tourism has on the Noosa
economy as these measures include both the tourism industry itself and the additional
impacts gained from the multiplier effect.



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