The Effect of Tourism on Local Government Spending In Missouri, 1992

Abstract

The common view oftourism is that it brings a region mostly benefits with few additional costs. However, as Wong ( 1996) points out, increased tourism in a region frequently means increased governmental costs for such items as highways, police and fire protection, perhaps parks and recreation. Following Wong, we investigate the relationship between tourism in Missouri counties and local government expenditures. In contrast to Wong, we find no evidence ofapositive relationship between tourism spending and local government expenditures in a county. (H7, RS)