Event Sustainability

Chapter 4

© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)

 Chapter objectives
 Understand the concept of sustainable tourism
within events
 Consider the ways to maximise the benefits of
an event strategy
 Know the importance of generating revenues
and event economic assessment
 Understand the event’s life cycle and influences
 Examine the carrying capacity concept of an
event
© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)
 Sustainable event tourism
 The paradox is that while events and
festivals have helped in regeneration, they
have brought with them change
 With many of Asia’s events based on
environmental conditions, any decline can
have negative consequences on these
events

© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)

 Principles and guidelines to
sustainable event tourism
 These should be practical to implement and
monitor
 Agreement, consensus and trade-offs maybe
needed in the negotiation process
 Realistically, events will inevitably impact the
environment. The event manager should
strive to consciously negate as much as
possible
© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)
 Scope of Sustainable Tourism*
Pollution:
Conservation policies and Air, water, noise,
practices: visual Resource use:
Landscapes, townscapes, Water, land, food, power,
waterscapes, materials
wildlife, indigenous
communities

Wildlife and
ecosystems:
Public sector policy:
Sustainable Event Hunting, habitats
Funding, legislation, planning
tourism

Operational practices:
Industry:
Recycling, waste management,
Codes of practice, self-regulation, level
energy conservation, eco-friendly
of stakeholder collaboration,
construction
sustainable tourism-related initiatives

Host community:
Distribution of benefits,
Tourist:
involvement
Behaviour, concerns

* From Swarbrooke, 1999:16

© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)
 Managing and maximising
benefits
 Both the event and community can benefit
from event revenues:
 Event fees
 Sponsorships and partnerships
 Grants
 Venue rental
 Accommodation providers
 Human resources
 Travel visas
© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)
 Managing and maximising
benefits
 Airport taxes
 Transportation providers
 Restaurant and bars
 Entertainment
 Utilities
 Museums, monuments and sites
 Post-event revenues (auction of Yao Ming’s Bed
after Beijing Olympic; selling of Video &
Merchandise
© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)
 Monitoring economic impacts and
revenues
 Should the events objective be the generation of
extra revenue, this can
be done by:
 Extending visitor catchment area (making a place more
accessible)
 Increasing ticket price and delegate fees
 Greater spending on event souvenirs and merchandise
(team up with branded clothing company in production)
 Encouraging longer visitor stay

© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)

 Multiplier effect
 This looks at the economy by industry sector (tourism
& hospitality, construction, business services, public
utilities) and conducting an input-output analysis
based on the event occurring
 The multiplier used depends on its degree of
influence on the local economy
 Earned income at an event by a local resident can
have a ripple effect throughout the economy
 Leakage could occur with local goods substituted for
more expensive foreign brands
© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)
 Event Life Cycle
 An recurring event has
Rejuvenated
have a life span.
Internal and external
Revenues Possible
decline
Sustained
forces can accelerate
growth or force the
Maturity
Decline event into decline
Growth
 Event concepts, such as
Introduction
product launches,
opening/closing
Time ceremonies or events
Research & Development that rotate between
cities, also need to stay
relevant and appealing

© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)

 Research and development
 A feasibility study should be conducted to
see how realistically the event could be
staged successfully. The negative revenue
reflects the costs involved in this research
 Need to examine changing participant
tastes and trends, spectator appeal,
resources needed and competitive analysis

© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)

 Introduction
 Opening ceremonies normally signal the
beginning of the event
 Marketing programmes need to occur some
time before the opening to ensure targeted
number of participants turn up
 A recurring event will have had time to create
a database, repeat visitors and appeal. A new
event may need to grow these

© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)

 Growth
 Based on the success of the introduction,
the event can continue to attract more
participation
 Reliant on issues such as relevant
programme, marketing and promotion
strategy, retention (for recurring events)
and infrastructure investment
 Popular events can be copied so there is
always a need to keep a competitive edge
© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)
 Maturity
 Venues can reach capacities, yet the event must
continue to keep participant numbers
 Various strategies must be in place to continually
add value and additional features to the event
 The event could encourage greater international
team participation, becoming more professional,
more strategic marketing, infrastructure
investment, location packaging, and linking to
popular trends

© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)

 Decline
 Events can go into decline for a number of
reasons. The warning signs are often there
 Internal factors: Poor or lack of strategic
management, environmental destruction, event
becoming obsolete and unattractive
 External factors: Political changes, more
appealing competitor events, lack of community
support, demographic shifts, capacity thresholds
being exceeded

© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)

 Event’s Carrying Capacity
 Events have physical and social carrying capacity
thresholds. A visitor management system is
needed
 Exceeding numbers can put a strain on the
event, its resources and environment
 Lack of monitoring thresholds can effect
participant event experience and community
support
 Participant arrival and departure sequence must
be carefully considered in event logistics
© 2010 by McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)