The Definition of Events Tourism - Essay Example

Topic: THE CONTRIBUTION OF SPECIAL EVENTS ON TOURISM Your institution Your name Course name Course instructor April 14, 2009 The Contribution of Special Events on Tourism The development of modern tourism dates back to the end of the Second World War. Since then, the tourism sector and the tourism activities have grown in leaps and bounds and more emphasis is being placed on it due to the great economic value that is attached to it. In order to optimize tourism productivity, players in the industry have adopted a strategy whose objective is to maximize output while minimizing costs in the sector. As a result, players have since 1990 devised alternatives to mass tourism with an objective to acquire competitive edge over rivals and to come up with forms of tourism that are highly sustainable in the long run target niche markets and probably generates the highest level of economic benefits and competitive advantage. Scholars have often referred to the alternative forms to mass tourism like the “special interests tourism (hall 1995). According to the latter, this category comprises of such niche tourism markets as the ecotourism, heritage tourism, and cultural tourism, the industrial tourism and special events tourism. Special events tourism has developed and grown at a very high rate in the recent few years. In addition, the players in this sector have since greatly recognized the special events as one of the fastest developing means of attracting tourists (Cromptom and Mckay 1997). The field of special events has come to light recently and it is only in the late 20th century that it has gained popularity. Nevertheless, the concept is not new. The first Olympics games were held in 776 BC, with very many religious activities being staged since then. However, the objective of holding special events in the previous times differed with the purposes for which the events are staged in present days. While special events in the past were held to mark a certain event or occurrence, the present day’s events are organized with specific set goals in the mind of the organizers, of which, boosting tourism is major(Youell,1995). For instance, there are cities that specialize in staging a host of special events so as to brand it as an attractive tourism destination as well as to reap the attractive economic benefits associated with the events (Lynch and Veal 1996). Little research however exists on the real impact of special events on tourism industry. For the purpose of this paper therefore, we discuss the special event tourism and diagnose the contributions of special events to the tourism sector in general. Individuals get encouraged to tour a place because of particular things that attract them thereto. As a result, attractions are of paramount importance in order to lure individuals to tour a destination hence make an elementary tool for tourism (Mill and Morrison 1992). Some places are characterized with natural attractions characteristics such as ambiance, attractive sceneries, flora and fauna among others. However, such places are few hence most of the areas have to rely on developed attractions to lure tourist’s visitation. In the latest effort to enhance tourist attraction, sector competitiveness and acquisition of distinct comparative advantage in tourism marketing, special events have been adopted as a complement to innate and existing exotic attractions (Burns et al, 1986). Although most of special events are not staged with a tourism motive, there are emerging trends to utilize them for tourism benefits due to the realization that, they are major boost to both domestic and international tourism, i.e. they are major tourists attraction centers and thus encourages visitations to the designation (Getz 1989) Events tourism, a term that was developed in1980 is used to refer to the logical planning, development and marketing of festivals and special events as tourists attraction targets, enhancing factors as well as recipes to build on the image of the designation (Getz 1991). According to Getz (1991), there is enough evidence that the amount, variety as well as the recognition of festivals and special events have increased significantly in the past few years and its important role in branding destinations’ image, to enhance their appeal for tourists, has been well realized by stakeholders. The success rate of special events in getting the attraction of tourists can be attributed to a number of reasons. First, they target niche markets mainly composed of people with large amount of money to spend on fun (Ryan 1995). In addition, they address completeness, the emerging demand for leisure bustles which are short term, easy to get to with supple time dedications. In addition, the special events do not have age limitations hence can accommodate individuals across all ages (Jago and Shaw 1995). Many scholars tend to attribute the fast growth in special events tourism to the great role played by media especially in the large outstanding and seemingly special events such as the Olympics games (which attract great patronage) and the famous formula one grand prix. Irrespective of the massive focus that the media gives to the few seemingly special events, it is important to note that there are many other such special events outside the Olympics and the grand prix whose contribution to the tourism sector is unmatched. Relative to the growth in special events and special events tourism, the number of special events producing agencies and specialists companies have mushroomed, which either organize the events or offer support to the organized events through sponsorships and other relevant support systems. With the growing interest in the special events and its importance in boosting tourism, stakeholders’ interest in the events has been enhanced. In addition, the realization that many people are easily drawn towards special events has made communities, sporting associations and social interest groups to organize special events with an objective of bringing people into a common socializing forum, informative forums as well as for fund drives. Success of other regions in organizing special events and the resultant boost to tourism has made others adopt the same. As a result, the demonstration effect has led to rapid growth in the special events sector and tourism (Roche 1994) In Australia for instance, the government in collaboration with the Australia Tourism Board have recognized the great importance of special events to the country’s tourism sector as a whole. In response to this realization, Australian states and the territory government tourism organizations have set up special events divisions so as to facilitate the increment of the amount and size of special events that are on offer in the respective regions. Previously and until today, the attention that special events have been receiving from many stakeholders is notably low due to the fact that the demand for special interest tourism is higher than the market can offer. However, the realization of the potential of special events in boosting tourism has attracted competition into the sector thus calling for more research, development and intensive marketing of the special events; a factor that has contributed to the massive growth in the area too (Juniskee, 1994). According to Getz and smith (1994), the special events provide an ideal strategy for tourism attraction and development in many regions across the globe with many cities and countries turning to be special events designations e.g. the festival city. Most state and territory governments in Australia recognize special events as an important and strategic element of tourism planning and believe that the events are a sure source of distinct competence (Jago and Shaw 1995). According to Getz (1997), tourists who attend to the special events are individuals with very high ability and affordability to spend. He says that this category of tourists has more than average day to day spending capacity, although the amount sent is not standard and varies among individuals and the nature of the event. Prosser (1993) describe those individuals who tour the special events as high yield tourists due to the high spending capacity associated with them. The events that are regarded as the most economically viable are those which attract older and much wealthy visitors, like in the case of world master games (Mules and Faulkner 1996). According to Getz (1994), the special tourists qualify to be regarded as high class tourists. Consequently, special events have a greater potential to contribute to the earnings of the tourism industry than the mainstream tourism. Getz notes that the importance of special events travelers is not only limited to their contribution in economics terms but also impacts positively on the social and environmental aspects of the area that they tour. Special events tourism is seen as a better and cheaper means of tourism because unlike other forms of tourists’ attractions, special events tourism does not require a lot of additional infrastructure since they can be held in a diverse environment. More so, the nature of their organization makes them less affected by seasonality factor and provides participants with structured leisure activities that have high entertainment value (Robinson and Noel, 1991). According to Backman et al., (1995), special events greatly encourage people to travel. According to the latter, individuals traveling to attend to special events in the united states of America forms about 3% of all tourism travel in the country but recognizes that special events is one of the most rapidly growing section of the tourism industry in the country. In 1994, out of the total, the pleasure travels that took place in the selected 2100 households, 57% were found to have been influenced by attendance to a special event according to a survey carried out by wicks and Fesenermaier in 1995. A notable emerging trend in tourism is that many individuals no longer derive maximum satisfaction in just passively looking at eye-catching sites. Instead, tourism preference has shifted to events which offer tourists an opportunity to participate in the event in some way. According to Pearce (1991), tourist experience and contentment is improved by his or her participation in the event. the latter contends that, special events, festivals in particular, are a key booster to tourism in this perspective since they allow the visitors to participate in the events i.e. allows them have some participative experience either by being in contact with the local culture or actually participating in a game or sport. However, not all events offer participation though they have recorded resounding success in boosting local tourism. Example of such events is the Olympics games. Sporting events have emerged as a key tourism strategy tools for the stakeholders keen to boost local tourism as a result of visiting individuals’ expenditure (Mulee 1998). According to the latter, the economic benefits associated with such events are massive. For instance, the Monestreal Olympic Games in 1979 was recorded to have generated between 77 and 135 millions US dollars while the total economic contribution of the Los Ageless Olympics was 417 millions US dollars in value-added terms (Collins and Jackson, 1999). According to Robertson and Guerrier (1999), such sporting events are increasingly becoming interesting to both the local and international governments because of a number of reasons. First, they serve as a means of changing the image of the city and the state as a whole. According to Weiler and Hall (1992), Hall Mark events serve as an effective way to build the image of modern tourism. Olympics games in particular are a center of ultimate tourism attraction. Such events are able to enhance the image of smaller cities. An example of situations where the latter has been achieved is in the case of Seoul summer Olympics games. Cases where non capital cities such as Barcelona and Los Angeles have had the opportunity to host special events have resulted in massive boots in tourism in the cities and their environs. Other special events that have impacted positively on tourism are the Adelaide grand prix, the Calgary winter Olympics and the Victoria British Columbia common wealth games (Collins and Jackson 1999). The Barcelona Olympics also helped Spain to demonstrate an alternative tourism product to the mass tourism of the “Costas” (Robertson and Guerrier 1998) and made the city become one of the top European tourism destinations being ranked 5th in terms of visitors’ number. According to Waitt (2003:112) the social impacts of such events are extremely positive as they generate a source of patriotism and belongingness particularly among the young and ethnic minority and also present a humble opportunity for the governments and city leadership to establish or enhance the attachment and identification of citizens to the place. This has a notable positive impact on domestic tourism. In addition, sports tourism helps in urban regeneration. According to Shaw and Williams (2002), the Manchester city’s failed bid to host the 2002 Olympics enhanced the city to come up with a strategic plan to change and expand the city. In 1986, Sheffield city presented a strong bid to host the 1991 world student’s games as part of the cities regeneration strategy. According to Dulac and Henry (2001), the need to host the games had several objectives. It intended to change the image of the city from the city of still to the city of sports, and also to promote tourism in the city. Special events offer great attraction to tourists; both local and international. Every year for instance, tens of thousands tourists from the Caroline county and neighboring localities visit Bowling Green Visitors Center to attend the harvest festival that the town host on every third Saturday of October at the Bowling Green Visitors Center. The festival that includes live entertainment, cultural food, crafts, a car and a motorcycle shows and displays, is a major tourist attraction and a major booster of the county’s tourism as a whole. In addition, the county hosts the annual holiday parade on the main street of bowling green every 1st Saturday of December, an events that tourism authorities in the county attributed to the flourishing tourism in the county. At Caroline county therefore, special events are the major tourism attraction. According to Beguia tourism association, the role of special events in boosting the country’s tourism is unmatched and greatly attributes the success of its tourism to the numerous special events. For instance, the nine morning’s festivals that are hosted nine days before charismas with the Beguians displaying the Vincentia cultural traditions is one such major special events in Beguia island that forms the center of tourists attractions in December. For the nine nights, the Beguians sing carols and revels down the island in a cheerful countdown to the Christmas. According to the association, the nine morning event attracts many visitors who long to listen to the carols and at times participate in the events. Other special events that contribute massively to tourism attraction in Beguia includes the July fishermen’s day, annual music festivals held every January , the Christmas and new year’s celebrations, Aprils Easter regatta Among others. In conclusion, special events have a positive effect on tourism. They offer exceptional tourists attraction ability, helps in building the image of the destination, opening up places for tourism among other positive contributions. However, there are some aspects in special events that curtail its full effectiveness as a tourism promotion tool comparative to mainstream or general tourism. According to Gorney and Busser (1996), the cost of organizing the special events is considerably high. In addition, the logistics that are involved in the events organization hosting is high. As a result, failure to prepare adequately and put measures in place to optimize the relationship between the costs and special events tourism could make the organizers fail to realize the objective of the event. Furthermore, most social events are highly seasonal. For instance, the Olympics are held every four years and a country cannot stage the events for two consecutive times. As a result, they may not be reliable booster to tourism hence can only be used as a supplement to the mainstream tourism. Alternatively, players come up with different such events and distribute them across the calendar year. Finally, special events are highly selective hence may not receive patronage across the board. For instance, the FIFA world cup will only attract tourists who are football fans. Bibliography Beguia Tourism Association, 2008 Special Events and Tourism: Beguia Island. Bowling Green Visitors Center Handbook, 2009 Tourism and Special Events: The Caroline County Press Website: https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/handle/1794/339?mode=simple Collins and Jackson, 1999 The Role Of Tourism In Encouraging Travel Behavior: Inc Journal Of Travel Research: 237-249 Melbourne Australia. Dulac and Henry, 2001 Sporting Activities and Their Role in boosting Tourism: Prentice Hall of India; New Delhi. Getz 1991, Festivals Management and Events Tourism Inc An International Journal. Vol 1 23-37. Getz, 1997 The Annals of Tourism Research: Inc The Journal of Tourism Research Vol 13(1) 23-27. Getz, 2001 Events Tourism: The Emerging Trends. Emerald Publishing Press; Emerald. Hall, 1992 The Events Tourism; A Contemporary Approach: Practice Hall Of India, New Delhi. Jago K, 1997 Special Events and Tourism Behavior: A Conceptualization and Empirical Perspective from Value Perspective: Victoria University Press, Victoria. Website: http://wallaby.vu.edu.au/adtVVUT/uploads/approved/adtVVUT20080304.115921/public/02whole.pdf. Shaw and Mills, 2002 Sporting Events and Sporting Tourism: Inc Journal of Business Studies Vol. 12(1) 160-177 Harvard University Press Harvard : Read More