Part 6

Compare Tropico 4 industry and tourism. Learn when to import, the best customs office setting, and how to make tourism rival manufacturing.

Some industries, like the Oil Refinery and Chemical Plant, require power or college-educated workers, making them suitable for late-game operations. While importing cuts into export profits, producing resources locally incurs costs such as land use, environmental impact, upkeep, wages, and increased traffic. Importing is often more cost-effective, especially for the Furniture factory. For all manufacturing industries, it is recommended to allow imports even when producing locally. When making sufficient money, set your port to 'No Limit' to allow each docked ship to import up to 500 units of each resource per industry. Imports cease when you are in the red financially or when an industry has over 1000 units of input resources. Even with local production, excess resources can be exported. Importing ensures industries always have sufficient input, preventing idle time which incurs wages and upkeep costs. Ships export first, potentially boosting income, before calculating imports based on your treasury. Imports decrease as industries fill up, acting as an investment.

Recommended Manufacturing Industries:

• Cement (only 1 recommended)
• Jewelry
• Weapons
• Electronics
• Cannery (mostly for fish)
• Furniture
• Cars

The Customs Office enhances exports without directly generating income. It has four settings: increase export revenue, decrease import cost, increase tourist spending, or siphon money to your Swiss account. The 'Stimulate Exports' setting is the most profitable, offering a 20% boost compared to a 30% discount on imports. For example, exporting 100,000 and importing 30,000 with a 30% import discount yields 79,000 profit, while a 20% export boost yields 90,000 profit. An economy edict requiring a TV station can increase export profits for 3 years, though it may not be necessary by the time a TV station is built.

Industry vs. Tourism:

Industry and tourism have equal profit potential when managed correctly. Industry generates large, infrequent income chunks (every 4-8 months) with pop-up notifications. Tourism provides continuous, small increments of income, often unnoticed without checking charts. Industry requires few, expensive buildings needing high school educated workers. Tourism requires more, cheaper buildings needing only uneducated workers. Industry is bottlenecked by the port; issues with dock workers can halt imports and exports. Tourism has multiple access points (dock and airport) and can generate income from both Tropicans and tourists, while also increasing Tropican happiness. Industrial product values fluctuate due to system events, though the Customs Office can help. Tourist income is manually set per attraction, influenced by tourism rating and spending limits. The Customs Office also benefits tourism. Industry buildings are expensive to replace after disasters and destroy stored resources. Tourism buildings are cheap to replace, less targeted by rebels, and have no stored resources.

Many prefer industry for its simplicity and satisfying export notifications. To rival manufacturing, build hotels and attractions in a 1:1 ratio, understanding that each building has a capacity limit.