Tourism Impact Model

Cambridge Model Methodology and Data Sources

The Cambridge Model is a computer-based mathematical model developed to provide indicative estimates of the volume, value and economic impact of tourism on a county or district basis. It is tourism specific and draws on the combined experience of Geoff Broom Associates and the English Regional Tourist Boards. The model utilises a standard methodology capable of application across the UK, and thus offers the potential for direct comparisons with similar destinations throughout the country.

The model has two stages – stage one calculates the volume and value of day and staying visitors to the study area, whilst stage two calculates the economic impact of this visitor spending in the local economy.

Stage 1 Estimating the volume of tourism

The first stage of the model generates indicative estimates of the volume and value of tourism activity including day visitors within local areas.

To produce these estimates, the model utilises information from national tourism surveys and regionally based data held by Tourism South East (see below). The model distributes regional activity as measured in those surveys to local areas using ‘drivers’, such as local accommodation capacity and local accommodation occupancy that influence the distribution of tourism activity at the local level.

The main national surveys used as data sources in stage one include:

• United Kingdom Tourism Survey (UKTS).This survey provides information on tourism activity by UK residents.

• International Passenger Survey (IPS). This survey provides information on overseas visitors to the United Kingdom.

• United Kingdom Day Visitor Survey (UKDVS). This survey collects information on leisure day visits.

These surveys provide information to a regional level, and to a more limited extent, county level.

In order to distribute county/ unitary totals to local level, the following information sources available at a local...