Does money grow on trees? A study of five Swedish national parks using a GIS approach to analyse economic impact

Sammanfattning: National parks are key parts of worldwide conservation initiatives. Increasingly, they are being founded not only to meet conservation goals but also because of their potential positive impact on regional economies. However, the results of previous research are ambiguous when it comes to assessing the magnitude of this effect and no such studies have been conducted for national parks in southern, central and western Sweden. This GIS-based study looks at five Swedish national parks (Fulufjället, Färnebofjärden, Kosterhavet, Söderåsen and Åsnen) and analyses business establishments in their vicinities over 30 years (1993 to 2022). This methodology demonstrates the utility of using GIS tools in tandem with business registers especially when other data, such as visitor spending figures, is not available. The results show that three of the five studied national parks had positive economic impacts on surrounding areas after they were established. Many previous studies assume tourism to be the primary vector of economic development, but this thesis’ results suggest the contrary: national parks seem to impact all industry sectors, albeit unevenly.