SPEAKERS:
Catherine Cullinane Thomas – economic impacts for US Parks
Cathy Cullinane Thomas is a natural resource economist with the U.S. Geological Survey and has specialized in developing regional economic models to address social and economic issues related to protected area management and visitation. Cathy is the lead modeler for the U.S. National Park Service Visitor Spending Effects Model and produces annual estimates of the economic contributions of tourism to U.S. National Parks. Cathy is a member of the TAPAS economics group and has been collaborating with this team to produce best practice guidelines for measuring the economic impacts of tourism to protected areas.
Thiago Beraldo – The economic impact of Brazil
Dr. Thiago Beraldo Souza is a member of the Tourism and Protected Areas Working Group (TAPAS/WCPA/IUCN), where he plays the role of Knowledge Development Coordinator. Since 2002, Thiago works for the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), where he is developing agendas like capacity building, ecotourism planning, community-based tourism, wildlife tourism, long distance trails, visitor monitoring, recreation concessions and economic impacts of tourism. In 2016, he earned a Ph.D in Ecology at the University of Florida, USA adapting a methodology to measure economic impacts of tourism in protected areas of Brazil. Results show that, in 2018, each $1 dollar invested in ICMBio generated $15 for the Brazilian economy.