Economic Development Studies
Outdoor recreation and tourism can create real economic opportunity, but effective development requires more than optimism. We help communities, agencies, and partners evaluate the feasibility, impacts, trade-offs, and long-term consequences of recreation and tourism investment. Our studies are designed to support better decisions about infrastructure, destination development, visitor economies, and regional growth.
Economic Impact Analysis
We estimate how recreation and tourism investments affect jobs, labor income, gross regional product, business activity, and tax revenues.
- Quantify direct, indirect, and induced effects of visitor spending and development investments.
- Estimate employment, income, value added, gross output, and tax revenue impacts.
- Compare alternative development scales and identify how fiscal and labor-market effects vary across scenarios.
Feasibility & Scenario Planning
We help partners understand what kinds of recreation and tourism development are realistic, strategic, and aligned with local conditions.
- Identify existing assets, development bottlenecks, and market opportunities.
- Evaluate multiple future scenarios that vary in complexity, cost, timeframe, and likely economic return.
- Ground recommendations in stakeholder input so proposed paths forward reflect local priorities, not just external demand.
What These Studies Deliver
Our economic development studies are designed to move beyond generic tourism promotion. We help partners understand what kinds of investments are feasible, what effects they may produce, what trade-offs they create, and how they align with local goals and capacities.
Depending on the project, our work can include stakeholder engagement, asset inventories, comparative case analysis, economic impact modeling, feasibility assessments, and scenario-based planning. The result is a clearer basis for public investment, grant applications, destination development, and long-term strategy.
