Tourism Development: Assessing Social Gains and Losses

Resident attitudes toward tourism, and perceptions of its impacts, are often diverse, with development often generating gains for some and losses for others. The net effect has been discussed conceptually for many years. This study illustrates an empirical evaluation of it, as well as of gains to tourists. Survey responses to hypothetical ski resort development in åre, sweden, indicate that some residents gain from such an expansion while others lose; the net effect on the community is negative over the range of slopes evaluated. Tourists gain from expansion, but their gains are not great enough to outweigh the net losses for residents, such that the welfare change for society as a whole is negative.