Impacts originating from the tourism sector

Economic Impact of Western Mediterranean Leisure Ports

Under the GESINPORTS project (Interreg IIIC) a research study was carried out in order to produce information on the economic impacts of sports facilities on the economic development of a region facilitating thus decision making both in the public and private sector. The aim was to quantify the economic impact of each facility on the town where it is established, in terms of job creation, wages, corporate profits, tax income and the effect on the rest of town’s productive sectors. Similarly, it is also of great interest to indicate how such a facility can continue influencing economic development in the future.

This study has analysed the economic impact of a selection of leisure ports in the Valencia Region and in northern Italy on the towns where they are located. The installations that provided sufficient information for the study to be conducted are listed below:

• Oropesa Yacht Club (Oropesa)
• Royal Yacht Club of Valencia (Valencia)
• Denia Marina (Denia)
• Denia Yacht Club (Denia)
• “Les Bassetes” Yacht Club (Benisa)
• “Marina de las Dunas” Marina (Guardamar)
• Royal Yacht Club of Torrevieja (Torrevieja)
• Santa Pola Yacht Club (Santa Pola)
• Altea Yacht Club (Altea)
• “Campoamor” Yacht Club (Orihuela)

In Italy, three leisure ports have been analysed:

• Lega Navale (Province of Genova)
• Diano Marina (Province of Imperia)
• Porto Antico (Province of Genova)

The economic impact of these ports has been analyzed by means of Input-Output methodology using Input Ouput Tables for the town where the leisure port is located. The basic information used were regional IOT tables, published by the Region of Valencia for the Spanish part of the case study, and the national IOT table for the Italian part of the study. In order to obtain sufficiently detailed results, we used further information from a publication by “La Caixa”1 (2005) on the towns where facilities are located, which makes it possible to elaborate IOT for each of them. In a similar way the national Italian IOT was updated and specified for the Liguria region.

Results Obtained for Leisure Ports in Valencia

Analysing the economic impact of leisure ports, provides a point of reference for public and private sector decision making related to the port sector. In addition to this, results will make it possible to compare sports structures as the same methodology has been used in all cases and an attempt has been made to focus on the town where ports are located or the nearest area of influence as in the case of Italian installations. In the first place, purchase structures and the value added to infrastructures are analysed to determine the presence of possible significant differences between the two. Later, in order to simplify observations, the economic impact results obtained from quantifying the initial, direct, indirect and induced effects are presented in an aggregated form.

Purchase Structure

The purchase structure of nautical-sports facilities was obtained from surveys and the annual accounts of the individual leisure ports under study. After analysing these data, it can be appreciated that while there are important differences across ports, at least two sectors stand out in all of them: in goods, “Energy” and in services, the branch of activity called “Other Market Services” [Table 1]. “Energy” represents up to 40% of purchases in some facilities, such as Oropesa Yacht Club. This branch of activity encompasses the following types of products: fuel, electricity, gas, water and residual collection. All these products are necessary for the users of these facilities to be able to carry out their nautical and leisure activities.

“Other market services” are important in proportion to the rest of supplies due to the nature of the business activity these facilities conduct. It is important to bear in mind that this sector includes the following types of services: educational, health, social, associative, recreational, cultural, sports and other personal services. More specifically, the Yacht Clubs in Denia, Orihuela (“Campoamor”) and Torrevieja more than 35% of their expenses to these activities. However, in “Marina de las Dunas” and Denia Marina these services are not as relevant, as their activity is less recreational than that of yacht clubs.

It is also worth mentioning the “Trade and Repairs” sector, which differs in order of importance depending on the facility, but accounts for more than 10% of expenses in most due to the constant maintenance and repairs that infrastructures and above all vessels require. Other relevant sectors depending on the individual situation and configuration of each port are “Construction” and “Financial Intermediation”, together with “Real Estate Agencies and Business Services” in the case of the Royal Yacht Club of Valencia and “Machinery” in the facilities in Denia, Santa Pola and Altea.

Table 1: Nautical Facility Purchase Structure (2004)

Sector	OROPESA YACHT CLUB	R.Y.C. of VALENCIA	DENIA MARINA	DENIA YACHT CLUB	LES BASSETES Y.C.	MARINA DE DUNAS
Agriculture	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Energy	40.29%	9.48%	31.86%	13.99%	34.12%	28.46%
Food	0.00%	0.95%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Clothing and Footwear	1.48%	1.33%	7.66%	2.81%	1.30%	1.84%
Chemical Industry	7.91%	3.79%	0.00%	0.51%	0.32%	9.80%
Other Non-metallic Products	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Metallurgy	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Machinery	0.00%	0.57%	21.49%	5.10%	3.65%	0.00%
Electrical Equipment	0.00%	0.57%	0.00%	0.54%	0.54%	0.00%
Transport Material	1.90%	1.33%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	2.36%
Misc. Manufactures	0.00%	0.95%	5.13%	0.89%	0.87%	16.99%
Construction	0.00%	8.10%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Trade and Repairs	29.01%	12.16%	4.44%	9.50%	8.74%	20.49%
Hotels and Restaurants	0.00%	1.62%	4.01%	2.24%	3.55%	0.00%
Transport & Communications	0.07%	2.43%	1.34%	1.91%	4.30%	0.05%
Financial Intermediation	2.25%	8.10%	6.01%	3.75%	10.68%	7.91%
Real Estate Agencies and Business Services	6.96%	20.26%	9.00%	2.97%	6.69%	4.91%
Other Market Services	10.13%	28.37%	9.06%	55.80%	25.25%	7.19%
Non-market Services	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%