A guide­book for eval­u­at­ing the eco­nomic im­pact of hunt­ing tour­ism fi­nal­ized

Guidebook focusing on the evaluation of economic impact that hunting tourism can cause is now published in the Ruralia Institute's Reports-series. The main goal of this guidebook is to introduce students, along with various hunting tourism stakeholders, to evaluating the economic impact of hunting tourism at various re

The book aims to provide the reader with basic knowledge concerning the evaluation methods in economics and consequently to provide support in understanding, evaluating, and interpreting the research that focuses on hunting tourism and how it affects the surrounding economy. In other words, the emphasis is on preparing the reader to understand the methods rather than actually implementing them in research.

For anyone interested in conducting an impact assessment, the guidebook provides a general view of the methodological alternatives and suggests further reading materials. The book is designed so that the reader does not need prior studies in economics, notes Outi Hakala, Susanna Kujala and Anne Matilainen, the editors of the book.

The guidebook contains five main chapters:

  1. The guidebook begins with an introduction to hunting tourism.
  2. The second chapter focuses on general issues around economic impact evaluation.
  3. The third chapter provides descriptions of the most commonly used evaluation methods, such as input-output model and computable general equilibrium model. The main methods are exemplified with real-life case studies that have been conducted by the HUNTOUR partners.
  4. The fourth chapter expands the focus to hunting tourism potential and sustainability, which will be explored in depth in our 3rd and 4th outputs.
  5. The final thoughts on the economic effects of hunting tourism and their evaluation finish the guidebook.

The guidebook is part of the HUNTOUR project, which aims to provide educational materials and hence support decision-making concerning the development of hunting tourism in European Union countries. The project is funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. It is implemented by four partners: the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague – Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences (Czech Republic), the University of Novi Sad – Faculty of Sciences (Serbia), the University of Sopron (Hungary), and the University of Helsinki – Ruralia Institute (Finland).

The guidebook is available at University of Helsinki, Ruralia Institute’s report series:

Hakala Outi, Kujala Susanna and Matilainen Anne (Eds.) (2022). Does hunting tourism affect the economy? A guidebook for evaluating the economic impact of hunting tourism. University of Helsinki Ruralia Institute, Reports 220.

More information:
Outi Hakala, Doctoral Researcher
University of Helsinki
Ruralia Institute
outi.hakala@helsinki.fi