A process model to assess the regional economic impacts of fishing tourism: A case study in northern Finland

Recreational fishing is one of the most popular leisure activities in western countries. From a conceptual viewpoint, recreational fishing includes fishing tourism. Over the last few decades, due to economic restructuring, nature-based tourism and related activities such as fishing are seen as a tool for revitalising the economic base of rural areas. In spite of the importance of fishing tourism as an economic activity, fishing tourism suffers from a lack of basic information on the sub-regional and local economic impacts of the phenomenon and this impedes, among other things, the development of the industry. The purpose of this study is to develop a process model to assess the regional economic impacts of fishing tourism. The idea of the model is to utilise as much as of the existing statistics provided by the authorities as possible. The benefits of using the existing data are, above all, to reduce the burden of empirical data collection. Thus, the aim of the study is to create a practical model that can be applied by researchers, planners and developers. Despite ignoring multiplicative effects, the model is useful for calculating basic regional economic indicators of fishing tourism in a simple, quick and cost-effective way, using a rigorous and comparable method. The model is applied in the case of the catchment area of the Iijoki, a river in northern Finland.

► We develop a process model to assess the regional economic impacts of fishing tourism. ► The process model utilises updated, annually provided, official statistical data. ► The definitions of fishing tourist, number of trips and study area are critical issues. ► The results of the model can be applied in a versatile way in the planning process.