Abstract
Economic impact analysis is a broad category of analytic methods including some of the most common tools for travel and tourism planning. The consensus of recent work appears to be that economic impact analysis can be an important element of the tourism planner’s toolbox but also can be subject to considerable risk of misuse and misinterpretation. This article highlights many of the issues involved in the appropriate use and interpretation of economic impact analysis and summarizes the contributions of articles included in this special issue. These articles address a wide range of topics, including the measurement of benefits and costs, modeling of indirect and induced impacts, and the testing, validation, and use of impact estimates.