Exploring the Social Impacts of Events - Case Study Example

IMPACTS OF EVENTS STUDENT’S NAME: INSTITUTION: INSTRUCTOR’S NAME: DATE: An event has been defined to mean a certain function organized with the aim of satisfying people’s interest. Events are used to express talents and to entertain the viewers. Events have to be organized for a long time because strategies on how to ensure a successful event have to be developed by the management. There are companies that organize these events and therefore it is easier to organize an event through these companies. Globally, events have made histories because in the process of expressing talents, there is identification and recognition of those who break the record in their areas of specialty. There are several types of events depending on the types of activities to be performed in the event. They include kid’s festival, Olympics, food and wine festivals, music festivals, cultural events and football events and many more (Richard. 2013). When there is an event, there are impacts associated with these events. The impacts have been categorized into social, economic and environmental. It is obvious that an event has to undergo a process of planning and development and developing strategies to ensure the event is successful. When all the factors that determine the success of an event are accomplished, there should be impacts that will either be positive or negative. These impacts affect causes both negative and positive changes in the region of event (Mueller, et al. 2011). In this essay, we are going to analyze the impacts of an event to the region where the event was held. Focus on Melbourne Commonwealth Games held from 15-26 march 2006 Baum, L.(2008) Depicts how Melbourne has been hosting the commonwealth games from way back. The event of 2006 had a great impact on the people to Melbourne. The games that took place in this event were Olympics and sport the Original commonwealth games that were played were; wrestling, boxing, rowing, bowls, swimming, and track and field. These games were organized and the countries that are the members of the commonwealth participated in these games. When it comes to other sports, commonwealth teams played rugby, basketball, netball and hockey. The competitions of commonwealth games were held in venues that Melbourne had created along the cities in that region especially in the central business districts. It is obvious that when these games were taking place, there were many functions that accompany these games. Facilities had to be provided for the athletes and other players from different diversities. Melbourne is a city comprised of people from different diversities and they all participate in any event that takes place around this region. In the process of events, there are many changes that take place prior to and after the events. Take, for example, the cultural activities that took place outside the places where games were held, this is an example of many activities that accompany the main sports events. In this case we are going to analyze the economic and social impacts that resulted in commonwealth games held in Melbourne. There were many changes that caused an impact both economically and socially and people of Melbourne had to embrace these changes. Economic impacts When it comes to analyzing economic impacts caused by an event, we look at how the economy of that particular region was influenced by the event. Questions like; did the impact cause a rise in the economy? how was the economic impact portrayed?. Melbourne is known to be the most economic region in Australia after Sydney. From a review on Cambridge Policy Consultants, (2002) the economic activities in this region give an insight the contribution of economic development in Australia. The most economic activity in this region is a business and enterprises whereby there are many business activities taking place ranging from industrial to commercial businesses. People in this region have companies and industries. The most booming types of businesses are construction of hotels and accommodation facilities as a result of many tourists who visit this place frequently. Therefore, restaurants also contribute the booming businesses. When it comes to the commonwealth games, there are many economic activities that take place and this contributes towards the development of Melbourne region. When it comes to analyzing the economic impacts of commonwealth games in Melbourne, we categorize these impacts as either direct impacts, production impacts or consumption impacts. Let’s focus on the direct impacts whereby it involves the development of enterprises to enable the success of the events. It is obvious that accommodations were required during the games, tours, entertainment, shopping, food and beverages. All these business activities form the direct economic impacts encountered during the events (Chen et al 2013). Take a look at the commonwealth games of 2006, which gave an opportunity for Melbourne to develop economically. From the analysis of direct economic impacts, there were many constructions that took place to enable sufficient accommodation for both athletes and the fans that come to witness the event. Construction of high standard facilities such as hotels and restaurants is an economic opportunity because Melbourne earned form the athletes and fans that used these facilities. When there are constructions it attracts opportunity for investors and stakeholders to develop innovative ideas on how to use these buildings to maximize profits while minimizing costs, this occurs through ensuring that during peak seasons as for the case of such events, the costs are high because the demand is also high and therefore businesses make up normal profits (Oldenboom, E. R. 2006). There are other economic activities that took place for example transport sector, this is where the fans and the athletes had to be transported from place to place since they were not familiar with the place. The transport business faced a positive economic impact during the event. Also, when there are such events, the government has to fund for infrastructure whereby the facilities used for infrastructure have to be availed for example electricity and roads and also communication. For any economic activity to succeed, there should be sufficient roads, electricity and communication facilities. They form the major components for an economic activity, therefore, during the event in Melbourne, the government contributed to economic development to ensure the success of the event. Other amenities were developed to ensure the success of the events and they include banking facilities, malls, and tour and travel sectors. These also contributed to the economic impact because the fans and the athletes needed to shop in the malls and therefore they had to get access to banks whereby they could withdraw cash. To add on that, they also had to tour Melbourne region and the tour and travel sectors had to be accessible to them. Creation of employment resulted from all the economic activities that took place during the event and therefore contributes towards economic impact experienced during the commonwealth games. Anderson et al (2008) explains the factors considered when it comes to production economic impacts, we focus on the impacts that the production and distribution companies encountered during this period. It is obvious that the influx of people resulted to high demands for food, accommodation, clothing’s and beverages. The production and distribution companies had to increase their rates of production to ensure enough supply in the markets and hence meet the rising demand for goods. Take for example the food and beverages industry whereby they had to increase their productions of foods and beverages and also they had to differentiate their products in terms of tastes and preferences, since the people who participated in the commonwealth games were form different diversities and had different tastes and preferences. This is the impact to the production and distribution companies since they had to incur expenses in developing other products that will meet the tastes and preferences of every customer. The companies experienced rise in the profits since their levels of production were high and since there was influx of people, demand was also high. Consumption economic impacts arise when the consumers form different diversities consume the products from Melbourne district. These consumers form the demand for goods and services and therefore contributing towards consumption economic impacts. The local residence will also consume the products from the companies as a result of changes in the tastes and preferences and they will increase the sales of the companies as well. Consumption impacts occur in different forms depending on the types of goods and services demanded by the consumers. Commonwealth games influenced consumption economic impacts as a result of the influx of people who came to witness these games. Also due to the increased incomes among the employees around the community, they will tend to consume products of higher quality because of the income at disposal; this will increase the consumption rate and will enhance economic development experienced through companies expanding their production activities and development of infrastructure and other amenities. Social impacts The term social impact implies that changes that the event contributed towards the lives of Australian people and those of the foreigners. Since the commonwealth games constitute people from different countries, there is a diversity that will impact the host country socially. During the event, therefore, there were some social changes that resulted from different diversities. Promoting the benefits that accrue physical and sporting activities is one of the major social impacts encountered during the commonwealth games. It is obvious that there is a campaign on the importance of sports and physical activities in our social lives. The commonwealth games have a range of sporting activities upon which one is able to exercise their bodies. We all know that exercise is good for our bodies because of the many reasons one of them being to flaxen the muscles and shape our bodies. When these games are held, it is an activity done to promote and pass information on the benefits of exercising our bodies (Greg R. 2013). World Health Organization is a program initiated to support the health of people globally, when it comes to games, this program articulates for the people to understand the importance of exercise. Therefore during the 2006 commonwealth games, the program gained an opportunity to work with health and sport ministries in Australia in order to encourage people to participate in games which will have an impact in their lives. This is a social impact associated with health matters because it is obvious that for one to be happy they should be healthy and exercise is one of the major contributors of living a healthy life (Garcia, B. 2014). Sharing the experience is another social impact that was encountered during the commonwealth 2006 games in Melbourne. Sharing experience comes in the form of interaction with other people from the diversity and getting an opportunity to socialize and share values from one community to another. When it comes to opportunities such as celebrations that took place in the game fields, we find that people interacted and had experience of other people’s communities; entertainments also formed a part of sharing experience as well. Another social impact is the opportunity to experience strength in traditions and values of communities. Let’s take a look at the opening and closing ceremonies that took place in the commonwealth games. We find that people from different diversities had to show their cultural talents in these ceremonies, this is a social impact that strengthens the traditions and values of communities because they explore their values and express their cultural characteristics through performances. Lenskyj, H. (2000) asserts that, when the events are successful, it enhances the pride and spirit of the host community. The games held in Melbourne have always been successful and this has resulted to a strong spirit from the community since they feel proud to ensure the success of any event. This encourages communities to improve their spirit and embrace events which will impact on their social lives. Also in the process of hosting events a community will unite and participate towards ensuring successful and enjoyable events. This will enhance participation among communities which is the impact that strengthens community thighs. There is also an impact on the new developing groups who want to showcase their talents and are not able because they lack awareness, when it comes to such events in Melbourne you find that these groups find an opportunity to express their talents. This is an advantage to many small groups who have not been able to get a chance to participate in cultural events. When analyzing the social impacts of commonwealth games in Melbourne, it is important to also focus on the negative impacts since everything has its positive and negative side. One of the negative impacts experienced in the event is the large population of people from different diversities who will cause congestion the city, this results to the loss of amenities as the community struggles to accommodate the influx of people through minimizing traffic congestion and creating spaces for parking. this may lead to displacement as experienced in the commonwealth games where some of the locals were displaced in order to create space for accommodating the large crowds. Bad behaviors also results from such events, we find that during the commonwealth games, there are people who do not want to engage in positive social behaviors and they ended up displaying bad habits through engaging in uncouth behaviors that creates a bad reputation to the community (Chalip, L. 2004). When people from different diversity interact, some of them tend to express their bad or good behaviors depending on their community values, therefore some of them engaged in misconducts and this was viewed as a negative social impact. It also depicts a bad reputation on the community because incidences such as excessive use of drugs and despicable behaviors are a bad reputation for the people in that community. However, in any event there are many people of whom their behaviors cannot be predicted and therefore we only focus on those that will build the image of the host community, therefore, the success of events is influenced by the positive social impacts. Reference Andersson, T. Armbrecht, JD. Lundberg, E. (2008) "Impact of Mega-events on the Economy." Asian Business and Management 7(2): 163-179. Bierach, B., W. Mueller, et al. (2011) Post-Games Analysis. Estates gazette: 48-49. Chalip, L. (2004) "Beyond Impact: A Generalised Model For Host Community Event Leverage. 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