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Tourism tax receipts were found to be a “very significant benefit” for Cyprus, equivalent to €25 per customer per night, a study by Tui shows.
Airport departure tax accounted for 10% of the total, which includes other fees such as corporation tax, VAT and income tax.
Tui worked with PwC and the Travel Foundation to measure the impact of 60,000 holidaymakers who visited eight hotels in Cyprus in 2013.
The research shows that a significant amount of the total impact of tourism comes indirectly from supply chain activities and tourism spend.
For example, supply chains and other services used by customers were found to generate almost 14 times as much waste as the hotels themselves (1.8kg of rubbish per customer per night from hotels compared with 25kg from the supply chain).
The positive economic and tax benefits were found to have the greatest impact, amounting to €84 per guest per night, far exceeding the negative environmental (-€4) and social (-€0.2) costs.
However, the one-year snapshot does not take account of the construction of the hotels. In addition, many environmental and social impacts will accumulate over a longer timeframe.
The new research demonstrates the importance of understanding the “big picture” impacts of tourism on a destination, Tui claimed.
The travel giant’s operations were found to generate overwhelmingly positive benefits.
But the project revealed that while the environmental damage caused by individual tourists may be small, when multiplied by millions of tourists over the years, the impact needs to be carefully managed if a destination is to stay attractive for years to come.
Greenhouse gases are the most significant environmental cost – although this represents less than 0.01% of total emissions in Cyprus. The greenhouse gas impact more than doubles if flights to and from Cyprus are included.
Tui Group sustainability director Jane Ashton said: “This is a ground-breaking investigation by PwC and The Travel Foundation which reveals the extent to which our holidays bring positive benefits to a destination.
“It gives us brand new insights into how to further improve the positive and minimise the negative impacts of tourism.
“Our business and our customers’ satisfaction is dependent upon thriving communities and well-managed environments, so as well as taking action ourselves, we are sharing the learnings from this project with the wider industry and with destination governments, so collectively we can make a difference.”