As part of a larger effort to assess the socio-economic impacts of GEF-funded Protected Areas, the Tourism Economic Model for Protected Areas (TEMPA) was developed to help guide project managers and others in the collection, analysis and display of tourism spending data using an easy to use spreadsheet-based tool, which is also provided. Despite the fact that economic impact analysis has been applied in many countries, such as, USA, Canada, Australia, Finland,  Namibia, and South Africa, this preliminary version of the tool and accompanying spreadsheet represents an initial step in a longer process of testing and refining TEMPA in a wide range of protected area categories globally. At present, TEMPA has been tested only in one selected park in Southern Africa, and nationally for Brazil. Results show significant direct and indirect economic gains from parks at the local and national level. It is hoped that the widespread use of tools such as TEMPA can continue to build from this effort to highlight the important multi-faceted role that protected areas play in supporting nature and livelihoods.