Events Tourism in Hamilton - Case Study Example

Running header: Events tourism in Hamilton Student’s name: Instructor’s name: Subject code: Date of submission: Concerns regarding events tourism in Hamilton (New Zealand) Events tourism is a type of tourism that takes advantage of existence of certain events to attract tourists. In other words, certain events such as the Olympic Games, communal cultural events or even the v8 race in Hamilton are sold to tourists. As such, events tourism increases the number of visitors by aggressively advertising the event. The organizers also take advantage of the events to organize and match various tours, accommodation and transport needs as well as tickets to the events as much as they can such that the visitors easily pick the options they want. At first, the reasons for organizing the events include competitions, cultural celebrations and local interest in sports. However with time, the events become a major source tourist attraction. Due to the economic benefits that come with such events, cities such as Hamilton are now positioning themselves as great events tourism destination through hosting of numerous events that run throughout the year (Wall, 2002). However, events tourism has been criticized for failing to transfer full benefits to the host communities. For example, the rugby games held in Hamilton in 2011 failed to benefit the locals but only benefited the event organizers. This paper looks at events tourism in Hamilton by analyzing the benefits and concerns that have resulted from hosting such events as the V8 race. Why Hamiltonians chose to develop the project Hamilton is the fourth largest city in New Zealand and is one of the most lively and fastest growing cities in New Zealand. Hamilton is a loving and ambitious city and its energy is reflected in its people and its wide range of events. The city also has many other tourist attraction sites. In addition, Hamilton has many high class hotels and lodges which offer accommodation to event attendees. This is why the city council decided to take advantage of the events to market Hamilton as a first class events destination in New Zealand. According to Hamilton city council’s website, the council has a plan of marketing the city as a New Zealand’s events destination which hosts high quality events, develops, retains and supports important world class events. The ability to attract and retain such big events helps the city market itself and attract tourists into the city (Wanhill, 2003). The city council has an events funding programme for those who may want to stage their events in Hamilton. However, the events sponsored are aimed at achieving the following benefits; a) Exposing and promoting the city so as to position it as an events city b) Economic benefits for the city- the council supports events that attract many visitors and promotes local businesses. c) Promoting pride and sense of belonging for the residents- this is by way of giving additional entertainment and leisure alternatives to the residents and hence creating a more interesting local lifestyle. Owing to the support from both Hamiltonians and local authorities, the city has become one of the biggest events destinations in New Zealand. Hamilton has successively marketed itself as an event destination by taking advantage of event wave in tourism as well as its many events and its rich natural landscape. Many visitors who are both foreign and domestic come to the city as spectators as well as participants in events. Events such as rugby have been an important element in Hamilton society although other sports such as endurance races and multi-sport have also become part of many Hamiltonians lives (Inskeep, 2001). In addition, smaller sporting events have also become a current trend in Hamilton. Hamilton today hosts many big events such the 2011 rugby world cup games. Hamilton also hosts the oldest professional football team in New Zealand, the oldest road race, a biannual host of the longest running international multi-sports events among many other events. Although the city has placed itself as an events tourism destination for many years, the Hamilton tourism board has now made the $2 billion per year tourism subsector an important priority and has employed full time staff fully dedicated to sports events tourism development. As such, the development of sports events tourism by Hamiltonians has been of great success despite there having been a number of concerns. The v8 race This is a yearly car racing event held in Hamilton city. It is an event which attracts thousand of visitors to Hamilton as well as local spectators. As such, the event greatly boosts the local tourism industry as well as local businesses due to the heavy spending by visitors during the event. Does events tourism provide economic benefits to the community? Most of the economic effects of the v8 event (event tourism) in Hamilton have been helpful to the city. Some of the economic benefits attributable to the event include; creation of foreign exchange, creation of new jobs and employment opportunities, prompting of trade, entrepreneurship and income in the service and the small business sectors, provision of new and improvement of the existing facilities which are made available for use by locals, increased growth within the city and the outer regions, increased income from taxes which allow greater spending by the council as well as the operation of the multiplier effect (Choy, 2010). The following table shows the key economic indicators of event tourism contribution to Hamilton city 2000 2003 2006 Direct tourist expenditure $496m $799m $804m Value added to Hamilton city region $380m $400-430m Tourism employment in the city’s economy 5.3-6.5% 6% 11.8% Tourism contribution to economic activity within the region 5-6.5% 4-5% Total Hamilton city tourism multiplier 3.18 Attraction spend $37-43m Accommodation spend $100m Retail spend $240-317m As seen from the table, the economic indicators of event tourism contribution to the city, direct spending by tourists as well as value added from the year 2000-2003 rose while the percentage of tourism employment as well as tourism economic contribution was stationary. The stagnation was associated with growth in other sectors of the economy over the same period especially construction. Employment in the tourism sector grew considerably over the decade at 11.4% per year. For instance, there were 10862 persons working in the industry representing 8.37% of the city’s workers while in 2006, the number had increased to 18 610 which was 11.4% of total employees. Given that the city’s people are young people, events tourism is a very important source of employment for the young and complements other major sectors of the city’s economy such as manufacturing in creating employment. Events tourism also indirectly contributes to the city’s economy (Gee, 2011). For example, visitors spend more in retails as well as accommodation. This shows how events tourism contributes indirectly to the city’s economy. This is because visitors participating in the events visit the city and buy products, services as well as public goods hence increasing their demand. The need for somewhere to stay is also a key factor that attracts business investment to the city as a result of events tourism. Another economic benefit arising from events tourism in Hamilton is creation of foreign exchange. For example, the tourists and travelers who attend events like the V8 race spend their money on a many goods on services sold in the local market. This expenditure puts money into the Hamilton’s economy and also creates an increased level of consumer demand (Morrison, 2008). Furthermore, the overseas visitors who participate in the events usually exchange their money into the local money for them to pay their tour expenses. As a result, Hamilton and indeed New Zealand gets more foreign money with which it can meet its own needs which include providing of better health and schooling facilities and improving of the general economic conditions. Event Tourism industry multiplier Multiplier is the total economic impact of events tourism on the city. As seen from the table above, the multiplier for events tourism for the city is 3.18. This implies that every dollar change in tourism expenditure leads to an impact of $3.18 on the local economy. This implies that with every increase in visitor spending as a result of events tourism in the city, the city greatly benefits economically both directly and indirectly. Concerns regarding the establishment of event tourism in Hamilton As observed above, events tourism has been a great contributor to the Hamilton city economy both directly and indirectly. However, while great chance for growth in events tourism in Hamilton city still exists, there are a number of issues and concerns that need attention. The speedily increasing attractiveness of events tourism in the city has caused increased demand for use of event venues which are located within the local community as well as the surrounding natural resources like wilderness areas and national parks. This creates pressure upon the resources hence turning the focus to crowding and carrying capacity issues related to the community as well as the natural environment (Fletcher, 2005). The social cultural impacts of event tourism in Hamilton have been given less attention compared to the economic gains. Of concern is that long-lasting development of sports event tourism highly depends on cooperation with Hamiltonians and all factors including economic, environmental and social cultural concerns must get enough attention. a) economic concerns One of the economic concerns resulting from events tourism in Hamilton is lack of real capture of economic rent. Economic rent is defined as the profit derived from an asset above the existing market rates arising from the assets insufficient and fixed supply. An example of economic rent is the higher cost of property in Hamilton city compared to other areas as a result of increased demand. It is worth arguing that such economic rents/ benefits should benefit the people of Hamilton and not only foreign tourists or tour operators since they are a type of payment for using Hamiltonian’s resources. However, there does not seem to be a real enjoyment of economic benefits resulting from events tourism for Hamiltonians. In other words, the tourism entities that gain from such benefits do not account for the negative effects of their activities (James, 2007). For example, the hotels do not pay for the true cost of environmental contamination as well as the negative impacts resulting from use and operation of their facilities. Furthermore, the council heavily supports financially the sector which in turn results in reduced welfare for Hamiltonians. b) social cultural concerns Such events as the V8 race have had many positive social impacts on Hamiltonians. However, they can also have negative social cultural effects on the host community. Some of the social cultural benefits of events tourism for Hamiltonians include increased confidence and self esteem among the locals, the empowerment of disadvantaged groups the improvement of the Hamilton community to take initiative, reduced crime and damage, increased social incorporation encouraging a collective identity as well as improved solidity, improvement of health as well as encouragement of pride in the Hamilton community (Diamond, 2006). By, hosting the events in the city, the council encourages Hamiltonians to participate in the events which not only results in health and lifespan improvement but also saves much money that could otherwise be spent on the public health eventually. Hosting of such events also leads to increased community pride, identity and spirit as a result of Hamiltonians working together in hosting the great events. These results in better social ties that help incorporate different people within the city. Furthermore, heightened spirits among the residents helps in increasing volunteerism for organizing the events as the residents feel proud being associated with the events. However, for the events to have the intended benefits to Hamiltonians, they have to be aligned with the local social and environmental values. The main concern therefore is whether the events themes match to the community values (Teo, 2004). By align the theme to the community values; this helps the community in accepting the events and hence increasing the number of locals willing to participate. However, if events are forced on the locals and are purely business and controlled by selfish interests, there can be problems and the intended benefits will be compromised by the costs. Big events such as the v8 races attract large crowds which results in increased crimes. There is also likely to be volunteer burn out where only a few Hamiltonians volunteer and each can not volunteer for all the events. Thus, there is likely to be a time when there will be no volunteers. Another social concern is the noise levels resulting from hosting of events. The noise levels are directly related to the event type as well as the number of people who attend the events. Such events as V8 and rugby events attract a great number of people thus contributing to a lot of noise (Holloway, 2010). While some residents may have no problem with the noise, others may be annoyed by it. In addition, littering and other forms of pollution may upset and annoy the local people hence generating a negative attitude among them. It has also been argued that events tourism has been a source of undesirable cultural exchanges among the Hamiltonians. This is where the locals have been able to copy undesirable cultures from foreigners thus diluting the local culture. However, it is only good that locals should learn to only copy what is good and discard what they deem undesirable. Environmental concerns Event tourism has been found to have varying levels of environmental effects most of which are considered negative. As such, the event locations as well as the sensitivity of the exposed Hamilton ecosystem are issues of concern to Hamiltonians in assessing the potential environmental effects of such events as the v8 race. This is because if Hamiltonians see the use of their natural environment as being ‘over use’ and as such see their surrounding natural resources as being damaged by the participants in the events, such events may face a lot of opposition from them. Event tourism for instance leads to crowding and congestion (Mill, 2000). These are issues of great concern to Hamiltonians. For example, the events always lead to traffic congestion and parking problems which disrupt every day life. Other problems include having to queue for services or the residents having their favorite picnic spots being invaded by foreigners. Such events could also be perceived as causing limited access to facilities for Hamiltonians as well as over use of some of their facilities. Another environmental concern may be the rise of unplanned settlements. Events tourism leads to high number of visitors attending the events. This results in increased need for hotels and other entertainment facilities. As such, construction activities in the venues of the events and around the city increases in order to cater for increased demand (Wilson, 2003). The increased construction activities on the other hand provide relatively short term and low skilled employment opportunities to the locals. The discontinous demand for such labour has often resulted to rising of unplanned settlement coming up close to the resort areas which leads to destruction of environment in the areas . This results in reduced environmental quality. Conclusion The city of Hamilton has in no doubt put in a lot of effort in ensuring that it becomes the New Zealand’s event destination. The existence of such events as the V8 race as well as the recent hosting of the rugby world cup for the year 2011 are just some examples of the great efforts made in promoting the city as an events destination. Hamilton being an events destination has experienced a lot of benefits as a result. Some of these benefits include increased foreign exchange, creation of employment and improved local infrastructure. Furthermore, this has seen more and more Hamiltonians engage in the various events hosted by the city. The involvement of the locals implies improved health as well as increased cooperation among the locals (Williams, 2011). However, despite the many benefits associated with event tourism in the city, there are a number of concerns that should be addressed if the city is to maintain its status as an events destination. The support of the locals for example is necessary. The economic benefits resulting from events tourism should adequately benefit the local residents. Furthermore, the city must ensure that environmental quality is not lowered as a result of event tourism. By so doing the city will remain first class events tourism not only in New Zealand. References: Wall, Grant (2002). Tourism: economic, physical and social impacts. Longman: Harlow, UK. (Book author) Wanhill, Sally (2003). Tourism: Principles and practice. Oxford University press: Oxford. (Book author) Inskeep, Etienne (2001). Tourism planning: An integrated and sustainable development approach. Van Nostrand Reinhold: New York. (Book author) Choy, Davidson (2010). Events tourism in Hamilton. New Zealand economic journal, 20(8): 13-15. (Journal article author) Gee, Canon (2011). The travel industry, Rutledge: London. (Book author) Fletcher, Jamiel (2005). The economic impact of international tourism on the national economy of New Zealand. Unpublished report to the government of New Zealand USAID/UNDP/WTO. (Report author) James, Kain (2007). Events tourism. Bournemouth University: UK. (Book author) Diamond, Johnson (2006). Tourism and development policy: a quantitive appraisal, Bulletin of tourism research 28(1): 36-50. (Journal article author) Holloway, Jades (2010). Marketing for events tourism. Longman: Melbourne.(book author) Mill, Richardson (2000). Tourism: The international business. Prentice Hall International: New Jersey. (Book Author) Williams, Jean (2011). Community issues and resident options of tourism. Annals of Tourism Research. 28: 269-290. (Journal article author) Wilson, Mendel (2003). Tourism and recreation. Prentice Hall: London. (Book author) Teo, Patti (2004). Assessing social-cultural impacts: The case of New Zealand. Tourism management. 15:126- 136. (Journal author) Morrison, Ariel (2008). The tourism system: an introductory text. Light house publishers: Sydney. (Book Author) . Read More

The v8 race This is a yearly car racing event held in Hamilton city. It is an event which attracts thousand of visitors to Hamilton as well as local spectators. As such, the event greatly boosts the local tourism industry as well as local businesses due to the heavy spending by visitors during the event. Does events tourism provide economic benefits to the community? Most of the economic effects of the v8 event (event tourism) in Hamilton have been helpful to the city. Some of the economic benefits attributable to the event include; creation of foreign exchange, creation of new jobs and employment opportunities, prompting of trade, entrepreneurship and income in the service and the small business sectors, provision of new and improvement of the existing facilities which are made available for use by locals, increased growth within the city and the outer regions, increased income from taxes which allow greater spending by the council as well as the operation of the multiplier effect (Choy, 2010).

The following table shows the key economic indicators of event tourism contribution to Hamilton city 2000 2003 2006 Direct tourist expenditure $496m $799m $804m Value added to Hamilton city region $380m $400-430m Tourism employment in the city’s economy 5.3-6.5% 6% 11.8% Tourism contribution to economic activity within the region 5-6.5% 4-5% Total Hamilton city tourism multiplier 3.18 Attraction spend $37-43m Accommodation spend $100m Retail spend $240-317m As seen from the table, the economic indicators of event tourism contribution to the city, direct spending by tourists as well as value added from the year 2000-2003 rose while the percentage of tourism employment as well as tourism economic contribution was stationary.

The stagnation was associated with growth in other sectors of the economy over the same period especially construction. Employment in the tourism sector grew considerably over the decade at 11.4% per year. For instance, there were 10862 persons working in the industry representing 8.37% of the city’s workers while in 2006, the number had increased to 18 610 which was 11.4% of total employees. Given that the city’s people are young people, events tourism is a very important source of employment for the young and complements other major sectors of the city’s economy such as manufacturing in creating employment.

Events tourism also indirectly contributes to the city’s economy (Gee, 2011). For example, visitors spend more in retails as well as accommodation. This shows how events tourism contributes indirectly to the city’s economy. This is because visitors participating in the events visit the city and buy products, services as well as public goods hence increasing their demand. The need for somewhere to stay is also a key factor that attracts business investment to the city as a result of events tourism.

Another economic benefit arising from events tourism in Hamilton is creation of foreign exchange. For example, the tourists and travelers who attend events like the V8 race spend their money on a many goods on services sold in the local market. This expenditure puts money into the Hamilton’s economy and also creates an increased level of consumer demand (Morrison, 2008). Furthermore, the overseas visitors who participate in the events usually exchange their money into the local money for them to pay their tour expenses.

As a result, Hamilton and indeed New Zealand gets more foreign money with which it can meet its own needs which include providing of better health and schooling facilities and improving of the general economic conditions. Event Tourism industry multiplier Multiplier is the total economic impact of events tourism on the city. As seen from the table above, the multiplier for events tourism for the city is 3.18. This implies that every dollar change in tourism expenditure leads to an impact of $3.

18 on the local economy. This implies that with every increase in visitor spending as a result of events tourism in the city, the city greatly benefits economically both directly and indirectly.

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