Estimation of the Economic Impacts of Yachting in Greece via the Tourism Satellite Account

This paper examines the impacts of yachting on the Greek economy. The contribution of yachting to major macroeconomic values and its impact on the Greek economy in 2004 are evaluated with the use of the tourism satellite account (TSA). The method has been applied by several countries to estimate the economic impacts of the traditionally designated tourism-related industries, as well as of all industries participating in the tourist economy, but not for the economic effects of special interest tourism (such as yachting). To date, there has been no application of this method in Greece either for the total tourism industry or for a specific tourism ‘sector’. The adaptation of TSA tables, maintaining harmonization with OECD directives and definitions which are approved and accepted internationally, is a precondition of the research. To achieve the research aims, both the theoretical and empirical aspects of yachting in Greece were investigated. Data from public sources have been included in the TSA tables. Since these tables require information with economic value, which is not found in the data recorded by many public services, primary research was conducted to collect this necessary information. The paper concludes by presenting the impacts of yachting on the major macroeconomic values of the Greek economy, such as tourist consumption, gross domestic product, balance of invisible resources, national income, employment, investments and public revenues (taxes).