“Clearly, the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area is a major contributor to the regional economy and raises the profile and value of heritage tourism.” - Nichole Parker, Co-Founder and Principal Partner, Parker Philips
FREDERICK, Md. (PRWEB) January 25, 2021
The Maryland Heritage Areas Authority (MHAA), the governing body of the Maryland Heritage Areas Program, today released the results of a study that estimates the contribution of the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area to the statewide economy to be $450.2 million in economic impact and 6,376 jobs supported and sustained.
“The Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area aims to preserve and enhance our vibrant communities by providing services to preserve what makes them unique: our priceless historic and natural resources. Our work promoting and developing heritage tourism for ever-widening audiences ensures that these resources will be valued by and valuable to future generations of stewards. This study reveals that the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area plays a vital role in our state and regional economies in Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties. Our operations, including grantmaking, technical assistance to nonprofits and government entities, marketing, an education initiative, and visitor services, have an exponential economic impact, supporting tourism, outdoor recreation, and local businesses. This is a crucial time to invest in the economic health of our communities and the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area’s mission makes that contribution." said Elizabeth Scott Shatto, Executive Director.
The study was commissioned by Maryland Heritage Areas Authority and was conducted by Parker Philips, Inc. a nationally recognized consulting firm specializing in economic impact analysis.
“An economic contribution analysis is an objective way to measure the significance of an organization in the regional economy; it is a tool that policy makers can use to inform their decisions about how to allocate funding and make smart investment decisions,” said Nichole Parker, Co-Founder and Principal Partner at Parker Philips. “Clearly, the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area is a major contributor to the regional economy and raises the profile and value of heritage tourism.”
In the analysis, the study considered the direct spending on operations, pay, benefits, grants and heritage tourists by the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area and the estimated increase in demand for goods and services in industry sectors that supply or support the heritage tourism in the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area.
According to the study, a key result of the program and heritage tourism is that the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area supports and sustains 6,376 jobs including direct employment by the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area, as well as indirect and induced jobs created by supply and equipment vendors, jobs created in the community at hotels, restaurants and retail stores in support of the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area’s operations, grantmaking and heritage tourists.
The study also calculated tax revenues generated by this level of economic activity, including sales, property, personal income and corporate income taxes. The study concluded that the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area generates about $60.3 million in tax revenues for state and local government.
Statewide, the Maryland Heritage Areas Program, including all 13 certified Heritage Areas, heritage tourists, grantmaking and program spending had a total statewide economic contribution of $2.4 billion. This activity generated an estimated 33,815 jobs in the state. It is estimated that nearly 20.7 million tourists in the state are heritage tourists.
This economic impact report for the Heart of the Civil War Heritage Area is available at https://www.heartofthecivilwar.org/about/press-releases. The full economic contribution analysis is available at https://bit.ly/mhaaimpact