The aim of the research project was to calculate and evaluate the effects of tourism on income and the number of jobs in selected European countries (Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Spain, Italy) on the basis of available statistics. The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) method was used for this purpose. The TSA was used to record tourism income and expenditure in a "satellite account" for the national accounts. This made it possible to determine the contribution of tourism to gross domestic product (GDP) and to derive important trends from this, e.g. the increase or decrease in overnight stays by foreign and domestic guests with corresponding consequences for income development in the tourism industry.

The IZT worked on two topics as part of this project: On the one hand, relevant framework data and trends in Austrian tourism were compiled and evaluated. Secondly, it was analysed whether the TSA method offers fundamental potential for recording the ecological effects of tourism. To this end, the current state of research on the topic of "sustainable tourism" was analysed and specific problem areas were presented as examples. In addition, it was found that a comprehensive empirical assessment of environmentally relevant effects (emissions, energy and water consumption in relation to specific tourism activities) of tourism, corresponding to those of a satellite account for the economic evaluation of tourism, could not be carried out at present due to the insufficient data available.