IMPACT ANALYSIS   Social, Economic, Environmental

Who/what will be adversely impacted by the proposed projects?   

What are the trade-offs? 

Introduction 

With the scoping process completed, impact analysis will be conducted to predict the probable impacts of each selected project. This analysis is the heart of the assessment process prescribed in this manual. It will be time-consuming, but don't be tempted to take shortcuts. The results you obtain will be the most important information you need to answer the big questions of, What are we getting into when we pursue a tourism economic development strategy for our community? and Is it worth it? 
 

 
 

Purpose

 
Tourism is being promoted as an economic development strategy for rural communities based upon arguments of its many direct and indirect benefits. Promoters do not, however, always acknowledge the costs that communities will incur when they bring tourism into their area. In reality, there are prices to pay for a tourism industry. These may be a challenge to specify. This manual strives to get communities to look at both the benefit and cost sides of the equation to better ensure that any tourism development that occurs does so with minimal unexpected negative impacts and with rewards for the community in a sustainable, equitable manner. Several examples of potential benefits and costs are listed below. 

The three-part impact analysis your task force will complete in this section will suggest who or what may be positively impacted, and who or what may be adversely impacted by the proposed tourism development project(s). You will conduct three different types of impact analyses, social, economic, and environmental, to determine which, if any, of your priority projects should proceed. Steps to conduct each of these are explained in How To Conduct This 3-Part Step. 
 

 
 

Objectives

 
By the end of this impact analysis, the action committee will have determined the following for each of the projects scoped out in the previous section: 

• potential benefits in terms of social, economic, and environmental factors,
• potential social, economic, and environmental costs so they can be planned for and perhaps mitigated,
• benefit/cost comparisons,

• decided which project(s) are most desirable to pursue in terms of a broad base of benefits and cost considerations to the community's quality of life, economy, and environment.

Benefits Social  Brings in outside dollars to support community facilities and services that otherwise might not be developed.    Encourages civic involvement and pride.    Provides cultural exchange between hosts and guests.    Facilities developed for tourism can also benefit residents.   Environmental   Fosters conservation and preservation of natural, cultural and historical resources.    Encourages community beautification and revitalization.    Is a clean industry.   Economic   Helps diversify and stabilize the local economy.    Contributes to state and local tax base.    Creates local jobs and business opportunities.    Brings new money into the economy.    Helps attract additional businesses and services to support the tourist industry.

Costs Social   May attract visitors whose lifestyles and ideas conflict with the community's.    May create crowding and congestion.    May compete with residents for available services, facilities, and existing recreation opportunities.    May result in an increase in crime.     Environmental   May degrade the quality of sensitive natural or historical sites.    May increase litter, noise, and pollution.      Economic   Places demands on public services and facilities (infrastructure) beyond tax revenues to support expanded services.    May inflate property values and prices of goods and services.    If outside interests own the tourism development, most of the economic benefits will leave the community.

 
 

Getting Organized

You will need to put together separate task forces to collect and analyze the necessary information for each of the three impact assessments. It would be wise to have the scoping task force for each project act as the economic impact assessment task force because they have already collected most of the data necessary to complete that step. Think about any specific experts that you will want to invite to participate, like wastewater system and traffic engineers to give input on infrastructure capacity. Each task force can invite these types of experts to join them once the members become more familiar with the specific information they are called upon to collect and analyze. 

Each task force should identify a Record Keeper to be responsible for keeping copies of all their information and decision making notes for future reference.