Economic Impact Analysis of the Tourism Industry

The tourism industry in Osceola County has undergone some significant changes over the past ten years. The inventory of the accommodation sector increased by more than 20%; the industry became more diversified and complex by a greater number of timeshare properties in the area, the emergence of vacation homes as a prominent market segment and the emergence of convention hotels. The continuing evolution of the tourism industry has kept it a significant player in the economic landscape of the county. The analysis considered the local tourism industry from the perspective of both direct impacts (i.e. employment, value-added and government revenues generated by the local tourism industry and its employees) and indirect impacts (i.e., the employment, value-added and government revenues generated by suppliers to the industry). The analysis confined the tourism industry to three market segments, including hotels, timeshare properties and vacation homes. It excluded the segments of visitors to the 3,667 campsites/RV sites reported by the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau and those visiting friends and relatives (VFR) due to the difficulties in collecting data related to these segments. Tourism brought in 6.2 million visitors to the area in 2007, which is a 5% increase compared to 2006. The total economic contribution of the tourism sector is estimated at more than $2.7 billion dollars in 2007, generating nearly 47,000 jobs throughout the economy with a total of nearly$1.8 billion in earnings. In addition, it yielded $239 million in taxes for the state and local governments, and$35 million in room taxes. The county received an estimated $15 million dollars from sales tax. The inventory of the lodging industry in the area totals 46,283 units at the end of 2007. The hotel segment contains the largest amount of units (a total of 24,355) followed by the timeshare properties and vacation homes with 8341 and 7811 units respectively. Visitors from the three market segments displayed different spending patterns during their stay and indicating therefore different economic effects throughout the county. The economic contribution of the hotel segment accounted for more than$1.7 billion dollars, generating nearly 27,000 jobs and yielding nearly $155 million in taxes. The average wage was$24,118. The timeshare segment yielded $383 million in economic contribution, generated more than 9000 jobs and produced$28 million in taxes. The average wage for the timeshare for the timeshare industry was $22,471. Finally, the vacation homes segment contributed more$641.5 million to the county economy, yielded over 10,000 jobs, and accounted for $57 million in taxes. The average wage for the vacation homes segment was$22,886 (see Table 1). The average wage for the tourism industry was $23,159

An evolving revolution in wet site research on the northwest coast of North America

Since 1950 AD, with the onset of larger-scale systematic archaeology on the southern Northwest Coast of North America, archaeologists have known that wet site deposits with perishable artefacts were occasionally encountered at the watertable depths of shellmidden excavations. The 1960s witnessed a testing of three large wet sites, Bider­bost, Hoko River and Ozette Village. The 1970s represented a flowering of wet site exploration, with ten sites hydrauli­cally excavated and reported in an overview conference volume. This peak decade of field investigations has been followed by attempts to incorporate the unique wet site data sets into the overall picture of Northwest Coast prehistory. Numerous surprises have arisen. The perishable artefacts demonstrate very contrary patterns of cultural evolution when compared with patterns represented by stone, bone and shell artefacts, causing a complete rethinking of the meaning of previously defined phase sequences along the Northwest Coast. The understanding of prehisioric eco­nomies and of the possible continuities of ethnic traditions has been greatly revised as well. Following England's Captain James Cook's visit to Noot­ka Sound on March 29, 1778, the Western world was first exposed to the unique and exceptionally rich hunter-fisher­gatherer cultures to be found along the Northwest Coast of North America (Fig. 12.1). Villages, or perhaps better termed towns, of thousands of people, with huge cedar plank houses, hundreds of large cedar dugout canoes, a stylized and large-scale art tradition, lived off efficient and intense fishing, hunting (including capture of even the largest mammal, the whale) and gathering of shellfish and plant foods. How these coastal people had evolved into the last re­maining highly complex societies based solely on hunting, fishing and gathering fascinated the. earliest North Ameri­can anthropologists, with considerable early ethnographic focus on recording their cultures. However the actual roots of this complexity could properly be approached only through archaeology, with one major problem: the majority of their often monumental structures, art and material cul­ture was made of wood and fibre. In fact Philip Drucker, one of the first anthropologists to explore the archaeological potential in this area in the late 1930s, attributed the long neglect of archaeological research on the Northwest Coast to "the belief that the coastal sites are small and few, that they are poor in artifactual material, and that much of what material they contain is so poorly preserved ... as to be irrecoverable

Ancient Basketry of the Olympic Peninsula

The scientific recovery of archaeological sites can reveal much about ancient cultures. Archaeology provides early dates that can be associated with cultural development in the region, but the archaeological record does not unveil a full portrayal as yet. In fact until 1970 most artifacts that were found in Northwest Coast sites were limited to stone and bone artifact assemblages, which tell us mostly about subsistence and manufacturing practices. The moist coastal climate of the Northwest Coast decays wood and fiber artifacts that could have revealed much more about culture change and the links between ancient and historic Native peoples. The pronounced absence of this material culture became evident while I was working at an archaeological field school on Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands in 1968, where 90 percent of the organic material, such as wood and fiber artifacts, had decomposed. In 1970 a winter storm eroded parts of the coastal Indian village of Ozette at Cape Alava, Washington, to reveal many of its artifacts. This village was occupied between 2,000 and 300 years ago. Reports of erosion drew people to see the site, and some, unfortunately, began to plunder it. In order to preserve and protect this endangered example of the Makah’s rich heritage, the Makah Tribe and Washington State University (WSU) began a full archaeological investigation of the ancient houses that had been encased in a mudslide about 300 years ago. Archaeologists from WSU, led by Richard Daugherty, discovered basketry and wooden artifacts that had been buried in part of the village by a 1700 mudslide—probably after an earthquake event. Using hydraulic excavation techniques, the wet site’s preserved basketry was carefully removed, revealing stylistic evidence that could be used to interpret culture change in the region (fig. 8.1). As more West Coast archaeological sites were discovered and excavated in this same manner, new examples of basketry and cordage were found that could be compared with the Ozette material to better comprehend the continuity or change in Northwest cultures over thousands of years (Croes 1976, 1977, 1995). Hundreds of basketry items were found in houses throughout the Ozette village. Fifty-six basket types were recorded, including fourteen decorative flat bag types (fig. 8.2) and one cradle type (Croes 2001); eight mat types, including two tumplines, categorized as flat woven basketry; and seven hat types. overall there were 697 basketry items and another 406 fragments studied (Croes 1977). Clearly Ozette was producing distinctive art and industrious amounts and kinds of basketry that had yet to be seen in ancient sites

Prehistoric ethnicity on the Northwest Coast of North America: An evaluation of style in basketry and lithics

Resulting from the recent excavation of waterlogged (“wet”) sites on the Northwest Coast of North America, prehistoric basketry and cordage artifacts have become much more common. Since these artifacts have several unique diagnostic attributes, they become particularly useful as a new dimension for considering the meaning of Northwest Coast archaeological phase definitions. At the Hoko River wet/dry site, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, we find a lithic component in the living areas (dry portion) which best “fits” the Locarno Beach Phase. This 2200–3000 B.P. fishing camp represents a westerly extension of this lithic artifact assemblage, typically found at this time period in the Gulf of Georgia. The abundant Hoko River perishable artifact assemblage found in the wet offshore areas demonstrates a distinctive style when compared to those from the classic and contemporary Locarno component from the Musqueam Northeast wet site (DhRt4) on the Fraser Delta. Therefore, what do the Locarno characteristics observed from lithic artifacts at Hoko River actually represent? From computer-assisted economic models of cultural evolution for the Hoko region, we propose that many groups of the southern Northwest Coast evolved through similareconomic stages or plateaus (best characterized by stone and bone artifact styles), yet retained distinct ethnic styles (best characterized by their basketry and cordage). Developing southern Northwest Coast groups may have passed through similareconomic plateaus that have become considered culturalphases or types, while the basketry and cordage artifacts may best represent continuity of cultural ethnicity through theseeconomic plateaus

The Hoko River archaeological site complex: The wet/dry site (45CA213), 3,000-1,700 B. P

Three millennia ago, Native Americans on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula occupied a key seasonal fishing camp on a bar of the Hoko River. Over the centuries, these ocean-oriented peoples discarded cordage, basketry, bent-wood fishhooks, tools, and other cultural materials. These perishable items were remarkably preserved in wet, low-oxygen river deposits

The Dick Pope Sr. Institute for Tourism Studies, Marketing Flyer

This pamphlet describes mission and services of the Dick Pope Sr. Institute for Tourism Studies

Tourism Specialization and Economic Output in Small Islands

Purpose– This study aims to investigate growth differentials among small islands and the impact of tourism specialization on the growth and the economic performance of small islands. Design/methodology/approach– The study is based on trade theory and uses data from a panel of small islands for 1995-2007. It applies panel regression and standard time series methods combined with a qualitative approach. Findings– Small islands experienced stronger basic patterns of growth than many developed countries, especially where economies of scale are not an issue. The findings further suggest that tourism specialization is not harmful to growth, and, in lieu of technological gaps and resource limitations, tourism specialization is a sound option. Size, a lack of complete sovereignty or independence and export orientation do not seem to affect the variance in the real per capita GDP at a greater degree. Finally, small islands may leverage returns to scale in global markets. Research limitations/ implications– While tourism specialization is assumed to enhance growth, in the case of small island destinations, the study did not formally test whether increased terms-of-trade may be perpetually improved. Practical implications– The study prompted four policy suggestions: small island economies should engage in tourism specialization; small island economies should allocate more resources to the tourism industry than other economic sectors; the success of tourism specialization does not depend exclusively on comparative advantage; and institutional realities and path dependence may play a role in economic performance. Originality/value– The originality of this study lies in the detection of a paradox in mainstream economics that indicates that small islands may not enjoy sustained economic growth. The detection led to a surprising discovery that tourism specialization may propel growth. The value of the study is twofold: theoretical value is added by suggesting a reconceptualization of the construct capital; and, practical value is strengthened in the sense that tourism specialization may only work under a condition where upon tourism offerings command higher prices than other commodities

The Significance of the 3000 B.P. Hoko River Waterlogged Fishing Camp in Our Overall Understanding of Southern Northwest Coast Cultural Evolution

The Hoko River site complex is located about 30 km from the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula, along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The complex consists of two temporally distinct areas of prehistoric occupation: an upriver waterlogged (wet) and adjoining (dry) campsite area dating from 3,000 to 2,200 B. P., and a rivermouth site within a large rockshelter, occupied from about 900 to 100 B. P. The chapter discusses how one would actually characterize the 2,500 to 3,000—year—old Hoko River fishing camp based on the simulation models predicting economic patterns, and as reflected by the archaeological remains from the wet and dry sites. It considers the prestorage and the storage model predictions to set the stage for evaluating this 3000 B. P. time period. Northwest Coast basketry and cordage artifacts provide senstitive data for hypothesizing continuity of cultural styles and general ethnic groups in the West Coast and the Puget Sound-Gulf of Georgia areas

Lachane Basketry and Cordage: A Technological, Functional and Comparative Study

Prehistoric basketry and cordage recovered from the Lachane site provide entirely new information concerning the prehistory of the northern Northwest Coast. These materials are analyzed for comparison at the level of attribute (mode), class (type) and functional category. Lachane basketry is compared to historic Tsimshian, Haida, and Tlingit basketry using different cluster analysis tests and the results clearly indicate a close degree of similarity between prehistoric Lachane and historic Tsimshian basketry. Since Lachane is in the heart of historic Tsimshian territory, these data support a model of Tsimshian cultural continuity. The Lachane cordage analysis demonstrates an emphasis on multi-strand, cedar bark, twisted cords. This is most similar to the cordage technology from the other northern wet site, Axeti, and in contrast to southern Northwest Coast wet site cordage technologies. This may indicate a northern, vs. southern, style of ropemaking. Both the Lachane basketry and cordage analyses demonstrate the sensitivity of these kinds of artifacts for prehistoric research on the Northwest Coast. La vannerie et le cordage recueillis du site Lachane fournissent de nouveaux renseignements concernant le prehistoire du nord de la Côte Ouest. On effectue une étuse comparative de ces objets en utilisant les caracteres (mode), les classes (types) et les categories fonctionnelles. On compare la vannerie de Lachane à la vannerie historique des Tsimshian, des Haida et des Tlingit en utilisant divers testes d'analyse vectorielle. Les résultats indiquent un degre 6troit de similitude entre la vannerie préhistorique et historique des Tsimshian. Comme Lachane est au coeur de l'évolution culturelle des Tsimshian, on en déduit une continuité culturelle. L'analyse du cordage de Lachane soulinge I'importance plac 130e sur les cordes tordues à brins multiples d'écorce de cédre. Ce cordage est similaire à la technique de cordage observée sur un autre site humide septentrional, Axeti, mais se trouve en contraste avec les techniques observées dans les sites humides au sud de la Côte Nord-ouest. Ceci peut indiquer un style, septentrional vs oriental, de fabrication de la corde. L'analyse de la vannerie et du cordage de Lachane démontre à quel point les objets de cette nature sont utiles à la recherche en préhistoire sur la Côte Nord-ouest