VIDEO: BW Prof. Tom Sutton Unpacks His Fascinating Leisure & Hospitality Report

Baldwin Wallace professor Dr. Thomas Sutton, Ph.D. discusses his recent report, The Economic Impact of the Leisure & Hospitality Sector in Cuyahoga County, with CoolCleveland’s Thomas Mulready. A copy of the complete report can be downloaded here.

 

 

In this heavily annotated and illustrated video interview, the two Toms note some of the highlights of the report:

-The Leisure & Hospitality sector is between 10-15% of our local economy, once of the largest sectors (pp12-13)

-Leisure & Hospitality supports over 90,000 local jobs. (p22)

-The sector contributes over $11 Billion to the local economy. (p21)

-Cuyahoga is #1 in the country (by a long shot) in average pay for Hospitality workers ($37,500), when adjusted for cost of living. (p36)

-“While the performing arts and spectator sports subsector ranks as the second largest in employment impact, its significance becomes even more evident when considering labor income. After food and drinking places, the performing arts and spectator sports subsector emerge as the second-largest contributor to labor income.” (p22)

 

This wide-ranging interview also raises some important questions and considerations:

-Has the Leisure & Hospitality sector fully recovered from the recent pandemic? (p7)

-How do we justify the billions of dollars of subsidies provided to professional sports facilities, when it is known that those investments don’t pay off economically? (p26)

-Why this sector is not “targeted” like Smart Manufacturing, Information Technology and Health Care which are identified as potential growth industries for our region, while Leisure & Hospitality is as large or larger? (p10)

-Why there is a lack of support from the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County for such a major sector of the economy?

 

Watch the video interview here.

https://www.bw.edu/centers/community-research-institute/

Download The Economic Impact of the Leisure & Hospitality Sector in Cuyahoga County report here:

https://coolcleveland.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Hospitality-Industry-Report_BW-CRI_final.pdf

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