The economic impact of the tourism sector on the overall Italian economy: an input-output approach

Defining the tourism sector poses a considerable challenge, owing to the diversified nature of its economic activities, whichencompass services, industries, and agriculture. The extent of tourism's influence varies substantially across these sectors, making it arduous to gauge its contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP). To surmount this challenge, the satellite accounting method (TSA) is typically used to establish the spread of tourism across different economic activities and subsequently determine its contribution to final production. A range of approaches, including impact models, cost-benefit models, social accounting matrices (SAMs), and computable general equilibrium (CGE), have been utilized to evaluate the economic ramifications of tourism (see Frechtling, 2009; Madsen and Zhang, 2010; Rossouw and Saayman, 2011; and Dwyer et al., 2007). However, since 2010, TSAs have become, the standard tool to measure the direct economic contributions of tourism (Cañada, 2013; Dwyer et al., op.cit.). Within the framework of satellite accounting (TSA), the expenditure approach is typically adopted, although it should not be regarded as the exclusive method.