Small sight—Big might: Economic impact of bird tourism shows opportunities for rural communities and biodiversity conservation

compares to the direct employment of Alaska’s mining industry, which in 2020 had an annual average job count of 3,111 or Alaska’s telecommunications sector with 3,500 direct jobs [37]. Half of Alaska’s total jobs that are linked to bird tourism are associated with the Interior region’s bird tourism sector, followed by the Rainforest region (44%), Western Alaska (6%) and Arctic Plains (<1%) (Table 5). The majority (1,079) of the 4,378 total jobs generated by bird tourism were in the food ser- vices sector followed by 700 annual average jobs in the scenic and sightseeing transportation and support services sector (Table 6). Jobs in the lodging and retail sectors are also among the top-ranking employment generators yet show much lower effects on labor income due to the lower wages in these sectors. A national survey of birdwatchers found similar economic impacts across these sectors, underlining the significance and representativeness of the results [6]. The bird tourism sector also generated a total of $204 million in wages, salary, and benefits associated with the forementioned jobs (Table 4). Its contribution to Alaska’s GDP as mea- sured through value added, amounted to $326 million, roughly 1% of Alaska’s current-dollar GDP (Table 5). This result is consistent with the larger outdoor industry contributing 3.9% to the overall Alaska economy, twice the national average and underlining that Alaska compared to other U.S. states relies more on the outdoor recreation industry [44,45]. Regionally, the bird

tourism sector contributes most to the regional economy in the Rainforest region (2%) fol- lowed by Western Alaska (1%), Interior (0.5%) and Arctic Plains (<0.1%). This result further supports the previously mentioned regional differences and highlights opportunities for growth in Western Alaska and the Arctic Plains region (Table 5). The total value of all economic activity associated with Alaska’s bird tourism sector amounted to $584 million (Table 4), roughly equivalent to the five-year annual average harvest Table 5. Total economic impact of bird tourism by Alaska Bird Conservation Region and size of regional economies, 2021 US$ million. Total impact a Arctic Interior Rainforest Western Employment 15 1,919 1,696 226 Labor income 0.7 89.5 77.8 11.7 Value added 1.2 150.8 117.7 18.6 Output 2.2 271.1 210.7 33.9 Gross Regional Product b 2,000.1 28,000.0 6,000.5 2,000.5 aFor detailed direct, indirect, and induced effects (S4 Table). No data were available for the Islands region. All US$ amounts shown in 2021$ adjusted for inflation. bNote, to be compared with the “value added” row to get the relative size of the bird tourism sector in the overall regional economy. Source: IMPLAN Group. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268594.t005 Table 6. Total economic impact by sector ranked by employment impact, 2021 US$ million. Sector Employment Labor Income Value added Output Food services 1,079 35.8 50.8 93.8 Scenic and sightseeing transportation and support 702 46.6 49.3 82.7 Hotels and motels 552 19.7 35.2 74.5

Retail Stores—Miscellaneous 209 6.1 9.1 9.5 Automotive equipment rental 195 8.9 28.1 45.2 Recreation industries 185 4.4 6.8 12.6 Sporting goods, etc. retail 170 5.0 8.2 8.4 Other accommodations 151 7.7 13.1 24.3 General merchandise retail 105 4.6 7.4 7.6 Real estate 78 1.5 11.3 17.4 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268594.t006 PLOS ONE Economic impact of bird tourism in Alaska PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268594 July 6, 2022 11 / 18