Regional Economic Impact of Memmingen Airport on Tourism

The regional airport Memmingen (FMM), opened in 2007, allows an internationally mixed group of tourists to easily and inexpensively reach some of the most touristic regions in Bavaria. The passenger survey conducted at Memmingen airport in 2018 shows that an average of 40% of passengers at Memmingen airport were incoming passengers. Based on conservative statistical projections, the expenditure and purchasing power effects of travellers arriving via Memmingen airport were calculated for 2018. Incoming travellers spent a projected total of around 237.4 million euros in 2018. Of this sum, 133.4 million euros were spent in the Free State of Bavaria and 119.2 million euros in the target regions of the Allgäu, Bavarian Swabia, Ammersee/Lech, Starnberg Five Lakes Country, the Pfaffenwinkel, Zugspitz region and Munich. Each additional euro in expenditure by an incoming traveller triggers purchasing power inflows of around 1.43 euros in the target regions. Overall, expenditure by incoming passengers arriving at Memmingen airport thus triggers direct and indirect purchasing power inflows of 170 million euros in the study’s target areas; 1,766 jobs are statistically linked to them.

To identify the actual causal effects of Memmingen airport on tourism in target regions, the study uses difference-in-difference estimation and the synthetic control method approaches to compare actual developments in tourism with a hypothetical development, which would probably have arisen without the opening of the commercial airport. The airport has a particularly positive effect on the touristic region of the Allgäu. Estimates indicate that on average around 14.9 – 17.8% more guests arrived in the counties and independent cities of the Allgäu via Memmingen airport than would have been the case if the commercial airport had not been opened in the time period under consideration of 2008 to 2016.