Does fishery activity affect local tourism? Evidence from Denmark

Fishery and tourism coexist in many harbors. Active fishing vessels may attract tourists, which may also provide income to hotels and restaurants. This paper analyzes whether fisheries affect tourism by investigating the effect of the presence of active vessels on overnight stays in coastal areas of Denmark. The analysis is based on monthly panel data from 2016 to 2021 divided into postal code areas. Estimating a double logarithmic model accounting for fixed effects, it is found that when the number of fishing vessels belonging to a harbor in a postal code area increases by 1%, overnight stays in the same area increase by 0.11%, and when the number of fishing vessels landing in an area increases by 1%, overnight stays increase by 0.08%. Our results suggest that tourism is significantly positively affected by having active fishing vessels landing in local harbors. This implies that by considering the interactive effects of fisheries and tourism when designing fisheries policy, society might attain economic gains, potentially resulting in a larger fleet than what would be optimal solely from a fisheries perspective.