Client: Cook Islands Tourism Corporation

Authors: David Norman Kel Sanderson, and Iain Munro

Date: October 2009

This project updated work we did last year on the economic benefit of the RAR-LAX air route on the Cook Island economy. The project shows the role the route has in attracting Northern Hemisphere visitors to the Cook Islands. It presents a picture of the current economic impact of these visitors, and also of the likely increase as visitor numbers rebound as the world economy picks up.

The LAX-RAR route brought nearly 15,000 Northern Hemisphere visitors to the Cook Islands, generating $12.8 million in GDP, and creating nearly 430 direct FTEs. Adding the indirect and induced impacts of these visitors, more than $23 million in GDP, and 770 FTEs were created. This is around eight percent of Cook Island GDP and 13 percent of employment.

BERL job#: 4826