The Integrated Economic-Environmental Modeling (IEEM) Platform Approach to Tourism Investment Analysis: An Application to Costa Rica

Public investment in different types of tourism, from business to leisure tourism, has differentiated impacts on local economies, environment, people and government revenues. A fully integrated analytical approach such as the Integrated Economic-Environmental Modeling (IEEM) Platform is required to capture these multi-dimensional impacts. Applying IEEM to public investment in tourism in Costa Rica we find: investing in a higher skilled labor force particularly in traditional tourism-related activities will improve household welfare; similar increases in demand across all types of tourism show that Health tourism generates the greatest impact on household welfare, while Business tourism has the best prospects for reducing unemployment; Business tourism generates the largest increase in government revenues, but also has the largest greenhouse gas emission footprint, and; the whole of economy perspective of IEEM that captures direct, indirect and induced impacts results in a higher Net Present Value estimation of the investment.