4. Event tourism in the research literature
The ensuing literature review aims to be systematically comprehensive and critical, leading to identification of theoretical and research themes and gaps. First a chronological review is provided, showing how this sub-field originated and evolved. Then a thematic review is undertaken, looking specifically at types of events and ‘mega-events’. Of necessity, this review covers both event management and event tourism, mainly because the overlaps are considerable, and also owing to the fact that there are no separate event-tourism periodicals.