Tuorism Impact at local Scale:The Case of Tuscany

The chapter has two basic objectives: to construct suitable statistical measures for the agreed requirements and to assess the economic and environmental impact of the presence of tourists on a sub-regional scale (local economic system). The first goal is pursued through two different methodological tools. For the first tool , the number of nights spent by tourists in houses (not recorded by official statistics) is estimated by mean of a statistical model, on a municipal scale,.. The second tool is represented by the estimate of the tourists’ average daily spending in Tuscany through the integration of different statistical sources. The second goal - assessment of the economic and environmental impact of tourism spending - is pursued through the use of a multi-regional input-output model integrated with an array of satellite environmental accounting. The results of the assessment exercise confirm the importance of tourism for the region’s economy and the consequent environmental impacts. Therefore, the tool we have put together constitute a valid back-up for monitoring regional tourism development at the local level and for planning processes