Page 1 of 9

Events Management 1124074

Positive And Negative Impacts Of Events To Host People, Populations And Communities.

Page 2 of 9

Events Management 1124074

INTRODUCTION All events have impacts, Hall (1997). The following essay will highlight and analyze positive and negative impacts of events on the host people, populations and communities. Events Industry is one of the fastest growing industries in todays world which lead to a considerable amount of impacts on different sectors. The events industry has grown at an average pace of 6.2% each year globally since 2003 and is projected to grow 5.5% per year through 2011. The world's leading event organizer, Reed Exhibitions, holds no more than a 7% share of the global market. (The Events Industry White Paper, by AMR International and DeSilva, Phillips). Although impacts on the economic sectors have been a centre of research of the past researchers since a very long time, but social, environmental, political and other sectors are equally important. Since Events is a very broad term, so only Cultural Events will be concentrated on. Cultural Events include a large kind of events ranging from music to dance and from food to festivals. One of the fastest growing forms of visitor and community activity is the festival (Getz, 1997). The positive impacts will be discussed before the negative ones. Since the impacts are very critical, so only a few will be concentrated on in the essay. After the positives are discussed, the negatives will be followed by the conclusions.

Page 3 of 9

Events Management 1124074 Positive ImpactsThere are a lot of positive impacts of the cultural events on the host population which leads to a lot of improvement in and around the event location and also helps its people in a lot of ways. Few of them are listed below. One of the cultural positives of such events is the awareness of the local culture amongst the tourists that attend such events. This is one of the most sensitive impacts of all because this leads to the image and identity building of the local host community; not only in the eyes of the people who visit but also in front of the people who the tourists tell about their experiences to. For instance, the festival called Diwali (short form of the actual word Deepavali) is a very important festival in India and is often compared to Christmas too. A South African Marriage officer, ex officio Commissioner of Oaths; Freelance writer/journalist named Moira de Swardt said I am a practising Christian and have never been exposed to Hindu spirituality before and this sounds very much like the spiritual preparation of Advent before Christmas. in an article that she wrote after she attended a day long festival in Johannesburg. Since lighting candles and exchanging gifts are common things to do on both the occasions; it therefore connects the two main religions, Hinduism and Christianity, which celebrates these festivals. Even Oscar winner Hollywood star Julia Roberts, who also converted to Hinduism, said Diwali should be celebrated unanimously throughout the world as a gesture of goodwill. Not only its a festival of lights and exchanging gifts but cleaning your house, wearing new clothes and buying sweets is also important parts of it. This is probably considered to be the biggest Cultural Festival/Event in India and plays a very important role in the life of Indians. This, being such a prosperous and spiritual event, also led to such a huge personality to convert her religion as mentioned above. All this not only makes the Indian community proud, but also helps them gain respect in the world and spread awareness about their cultural values around the globe. Another economic positive impact on the host population is revenue generation. Whenever theres any kind of an event in a particular place, not only tourists around the world spend when they attend it; but also people within the same country but different parts of it may attend. The local community and the people have the

Page 4 of 9

Events Management 1124074 tendency to earn through a lot of sources like selling something unique which only their part of the country could offer or by selling food or by offering accommodation on small and large scales and other sources too. The investors may also generate a considerable amount of revenue by building large and small hotels and by offering tourists accommodation; if the event is for more than a day or if the tourists would want to stay for a couple of days even when the event gets over to explore the place. One of the most suitable examples for such an event would be the La Tomatina festival celebrated in Buol near Valencia in Spain every year. It is the worlds largest food/vegetable fight and has become a strong reason to draw tourists all over the world to Spain. Buol, being a small town situated around 25 miles away from Valencia, has a mere population of 9000 which swells to over 30000 people rushing in from all over the world. It happens on the last Sunday of August every year and is a great time for the people who own hotels and can provide accommodation in and near Buol. Buol being a small town, most people stay in Valencia which has plenty of comfortable hotels. In a travel article of the newspaper called The Mirror back in 2007, this was quoted as a 3billion project. It is also famous as a cultural centre, with its Arts and Science City (www.cac.es), a 3billion project which has revitalised the region. Smart hotels, posh shops and health spas now make Valencia very chic, although in the old town you still find tapas bars and dusty old buildings. The mental development and social awareness of the host people, communities and populations is another social positive impact of such events. With people coming in from all over the world and within the country with friends and family of diverse nature, status, background and age, it definitely is an advantage for the local people to interact with tourists of all kinds and exchange not only monetary values but social, cultural, spiritual and religious too. A lot of such positive impacts were mentioned in a journal by Delamere (1997) through special kind of a survey that was conducted in the host region. A few of them are, The festival allows for the sharing of ideas among community groups. There are more opportunities for interacting socially during the festival. The festival acts as a showcase for new ideas. The above points are very rightly marked and are surely worth giving a thought because These were a few of the positive impacts of the cultural events, which happen all over the world, on the host people and communities.

Page 5 of 9

Events Management 1124074

Negative ImpactsNegative impacts are those which collectively and negatively impact upon the lives of local communities, such as crowding, rowdy behaviour, traffic congestion, substance abuse, crime and loss of amenity, as well as feelings of community manipulation /commoditization or exclusion. Bowdin et al. (2006). One of the most negative cultural impacts of the cultural events on the locals of the host region is when disrespectful and impudent tourists come to attend such festivals/events and end up affronting the culture finding it unfamiliar and strange. Its probably impossible to put all the castes and religions in black and white that exist around the globe. Every religion is unique in its own way and has its own rights and wrongs and its own cultural values to it. Further, the age group of the tourists also decides the way the tourists will react on particular rituals and cultures of the event and its local people. Younger tourists may not be able to understand the heritage and seriousness behind the religious values of the local people while older tourists, on the other hand, may be a little more understanding towards the same. Indeed, the chapter sought to clarify particular impacts of events, and in doing so, has suggested that event sociocultural consequences are firmly grounded within the broader and well-established tourism literature. This chapter has suggested that events, and particularly mass participant events, have socio-cultural consequences in common. Specifically, these revolve around notions of place identity/meaning, social capital, and authorized transgressions. Sharpley, R. & Stone, P.R. (2011) in context to a lot of Gay Pride parades mentioned in the chapter. The non gays may protest against the LGBT individuals at gay pride events. Then people also give religious or political angles too all this. Inflation is another economic impact of the cultural events that become popular years after years around the world. Increase in demand leads to inflation. Inflation includes everything from little things like food to things like real estate in the area. Real estate inflation may make it difficult for the locals to live in a particular area. Bowdin et al (2006) stated that the Edinburgh International Festival, founded in 1947, led to inflation in the city with time which caused issues regarding the grants of the festival. Public sector support for the Festival has declined in cash terms. The benefit of

Page 6 of 9

Events Management 1124074 restoring 1994 levels of funding in 2002 has been eroded over the past two years as the grants have not risen with inflation. Whilst costs have been kept rigorously under control, the effect of rising costs and shrinking grants has been recognized. Not only in Edinburgh, but this is one of the most common impacts when small cultural events from inconspicuous parts of the country become recognised over the time in different parts of the world.

Potential increase in crime has also been noticed in the past and marked as a strong social negative impact of all of these events. The tourists are often considered to have relatively higher standard of living by the local people. The act spending without working at that time and dressing up fashionably may create a sense of inferiority amongst the locals which may further instigate the rate of crime and act of delinquencies. Tourists, being on a vacation, carry all sorts of gadgets, spend lavishly and dress up stylishly which may instigate the locals who cannot afford all that finding it amusing. Greg and Julie also quoted, The majority of visitors do not feel that Rotterdam is unsafe, but Rotterdammers feel more unsafe than tourists, perhaps because they are more aware of the crime that does take place. This is a research done on a city named Rotterdam in Netherlands when it staged the Cultural Capital of Europe event in 2001. Crimes may be of any kind ranging from robbery to murders or from property damage to any kind of violence, theres always a loss of community image and control. Crimes lead to a lot of effects in and around the society. Not only people stop trusting one another but they also have a continuous feeling of being unsafe.

Page 7 of 9

Events Management 1124074 ConclusionsNo matter what event takes place where, every impact always has an impact on the host people, positive or negative; social or cultural or for that matter economic. All the positive and negative impacts mentioned in the essay are considerably important and affect the local people and communities. However, the negatives have always over shadowed the positives. Not only economic impacts are to be concentrated on but social and cultural impacts are equally important. The essay highlighted a few important positive and negative impacts which affected the host population socially, economically and culturally.

Page 8 of 9

Events Management 1124074 References-

Journals: Janet Dickinson and Richard Shipway (May 2007) Resource Guide to The Impact of Events, Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Network, pp 2 Available at the Linkhttp://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/hlst/documents/resource_guides/the_impact_of _events.pdf

Greg Richards and Julie Wilson (March 2004) The Impact of Cultural Events on City Image:Rotterdam, Cultural Capital of Europe 2001 pp 1941 Available at http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=urban%20studies%2C%20vol.%2041%2C %20no.%2010%2C%201931%E2%80%931951%2C%20september%202004&sourc e=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.labforculture.org%2Fde %2Fcontent%2Fdownload%2F63277%2F525993%2Ffile%2FThe%2520Impact%25 20of%2520Cultural%2520Events%2520on%2520City%2520Image_Rotterdam.pdf& ei=I4KkTqGrMIiA8wPy9bCXCg&usg=AFQjCNFW6IcC6x4CtYVIeVJnI79HH8GRHg& cad=rja

BooksGlenn Bowdin, Johnny Allen, William O'Toole, Rob Harris, Ian McDonnell. (2006) Events Management. Second Edition. Great Britain: Elsevier Ltd. Getz, D. (1997) Event Management & Event Tourism. New York: Cognizant Communication corporation. Hall, C.M. (1997) Hallmark Tourist Events: Impacts, Management and Planning. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Page 9 of 9

Events Management 1124074 Sharpley, R. & Stone, P.R. (2011) Socio-cultural impacts of events: meanings, authorized transgression, and social capital. In S.Page and J.Connell (Eds) The Routledge Handbook of Events. London: Routledge

NewspapersThe Hindustan Times, dated 03/11/2010 http://www.hindustantimes.com/Christmas-amp-Diwali-the-same-JuliaRoberts/Article1-621774.aspx Accessed on 19/10/11 The Mirror, dated 08/092007 Available at: http://www.mirror.co.uk/advice/travel/2007/09/08/buenos-splatos115875-19753226/ Accessed on 20/10/11

ArticlesDelamere, T.A.,1997. Development of scale items to measure the social impact of community festivals. PART I: ITEM GENERATION AND PURIFICATION OF THE MEASURE Available at - http://web.viu.ca/delameret/images/festpaper1.pdf Moira de Swardt, 10/19/2011. Diwali Festival in Newtown 2011 Available at- http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=28443

Source - The Events Industry White Paper, by AMR International and DeSilva+Phillips Fast Stats : Events Industry Shows Consistent Growth Available at- http://www.pubexec.com/article/events-industry-shows-consistentgrowth-400439/1