At Salmi, we believe that every visit – to a travel destination, an event, or a visitor attraction – leaves a mark. That is why our surveys are built from the ground up to measure impact on three levels: economically, environmentally, and socially.

We don’t just measure opinions – we measure impacts that are visible in the region’s decision-making, development, and responsibility. However, we also utilize other information to categorize and better understand the impact data.

Economic impact

Visits produce regional economic benefits. We measure economic impacts according to international standards (EU, UN, UNWTO), making the results comparable and suitable for decision-making.

Spending categories we measure:

  • accommodation
  • restaurants and cafes
  • shopping and other consumption
  • public transport
  • refueling or charging of own car
  • recreational and cultural services

Additionally:

  • in events: internal consumption within the event area
  • in visitor attractions: money spent at the destination

This allows for the calculation of the total regional economic impact produced by visits – by visitor group and by region.

Environmental impacts: carbon footprint of mobility

We have developed a unique survey method to model the entire travel chain and its environmental impacts.

The visitor is asked in detail about:

  • parts of the journey
  • modes of transport used

The survey automatically calculates the travel distance and the exact carbon footprint for every part of the travel chain. From the data obtained, we form an overall picture of the emissions caused by all visitors. This enables responsible development based on data – not guesses.

Social impacts: community experience

At its core, social impact manifests as the local community’s experience of why and how people visit. In 2023, we developed a standardized way to determine the social impacts of events in cooperation with the event units of Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Jyväskylä, Lahti, and Kuopio. The survey battery was also reviewed with Visit Finland’s Sustainable Travel Finland program and expanded to apply to visitor attractions as well.

Objects of measurement can be, for example:

  • perceived benefits
  • perceived disadvantages
  • increase in attractiveness
  • increase in residents’ retention
  • increase in vitality
  • safety

This information can be combined with demographics, motives, and customer satisfaction, as well as all collected data in general – providing a truly multi-layered view of the impacts on the community.

Impact connects to other visitor data

Our measurement is not detached pieces of information; instead, we collect a broad dataset at once, and the information within it can be utilized cross-sectionally. This way, impact data automatically combines with other survey data:

  • visitor background information
  • reason for visit, i.e., motive
  • customer experience and satisfaction
  • open feedback
  • duration of visit
  • tailored additional questions

This makes the impact understandable, comparable, and supportive of practical development work. For example, based on this data customer profiling is deep and accurate.

See the impact – lead with data

All impact data is displayed visually through Power BI reporting – in near real-time. This way, regions, cities, events, and destinations can:

  • react to up-to-date information
  • develop their operations responsibly
  • demonstrate their impact to stakeholders and funders
  • communicate credibly to the media
  • target sales and marketing accurately
  • develop services based on data