PROJECT METHODOLOGY
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his study is based on the premise that events, such as the Nanaimo Maple
Sugar Festival, cause economic activity.

Money is spent at the Festival by participants. Some are from the Nanaimo area
and some are visitors from outside the Nanaimo area. The portion of expenditures
that comes from outside the community is considered new money to the Nanaimo
area. This is the spending that is counted in the economic impact.

The host organization also spends money in Nanaimo, some of it obtained from
sources outside the community. This is also considered new money retained by the
local economy. This new money circulating in the Nanaimo economy creates what
is called a direct impact.

The new income also generates ripple effects within the community. The money
spent locally by visitors and the host organization is in turn partially re-spent by
local businesses to purchase goods and services in the Nanaimo area. This creates
what is called an indirect impact. Further down the economic chain, the additional
income earned by the employees of these businesses is also partially re-spent in the
community. This creates what is called an induced impact.

In order to assess the total economic impact of the Festival it is necessary to
determine the amount of money spent in Nanaimo by visitors to the Festival and
by the host organization, as well as the indirect and induced impacts generated by
this income.

The visitor expenditures were determined by analysing the results of a survey
distributed to participants during the Festival. The average spending amounts were
analysed separately for visitors and local participants in order to reveal different
spending patterns, should they exist. These numbers were then multiplied by the
total number of individual visitors to the Festival to obtain the total spending by
visitors.

The amounts spent by the host organization were determined by analysing the
Festival financial statements provided by Festival organizers. The indirect and

induced impact was determined by applying the appropriate multipliers to the
total visitor and organization spending numbers.

wile Sugar Festival 2004: A study of economic aud ioit-econoutic tinpacts on the Nanatiie area 9