Pugh and Wood (2004) focused on the strategic use of
events in UK local authorities, Reid (2006) looked at the
politics of city imaging surrounding an event, and Thomas
and Wood (2004) wrote about event based tourism and
local government in the UK. In fact, there seems to be a
broader discourse on event and tourism in general in the
United Kingdom.
Some work is being done on events in the urban studies
and policy literature. For example, Gotham (2002), writing
in Urban Studies, examined Mardi Gras in New Orleans
from the perspective of place marketing, commodification,
spectacle, globalization and political economy.
5.4.4. Knowledge creation
Knowledge creation in this field has largely been ad hoc
and fractionalized among diverse interest groups. Review
articles like this one have as one of their main purposes
the summarizing and integration of all the pertinent
literature, as do the growing number of textbooks.
However, research on the process and actors in knowledge
creation for event tourism is largely absent. One closely
related study by Stokes (2004) examined knowledge
networks in the Australian events sector.
In advancing knowledge a number of important actors
have to be involved, and perhaps some new collaborative
processes developed. Event and tourism studies, like other
immature fields of inquiry, are mostly multi-disciplinary in
nature, drawing theory, knowledge, methodologies and
methods from many established disciplines. It is also
accomplished indirectly, by drawing on closely related
professional fields like leisure studies. When two or more
disciplinary foundations are applied to the problem we
enter the realm of interdisciplinary research, with the longterm
goal being to establish unique, interdisciplinary
theory and knowledge.
Anyone doing research on events should view the
established disciplinary perspectives as a legitimate starting
point. Even if the research problem is rooted in a policy or
management need, it is highly possible that geography,
economics, or another discipline already provides an
answer or a solid foundation for doing the research.
However, within these disciplines the study of events and
tourism is often incidental to a broader issue or theoretical
problem.
Fig. 9 lists a number of key research questions on
patterns and processes, and because these are all dynamic
elements in the event tourism system, more longitudinal
and retrospective research will be needed.
5.5. Outcomes and the impacted
Event tourism is primarily driven by the goal of
economic benefits, but we need to examine outcomes and
impacts at the personal and societal levels, and also in
terms of cultural and environmental change. Event tourism
should be viewed in an open-system perspective, identifying
‘inputs’ (what it takes to make events happen, including the
costs of bidding, facility development and marketing),
‘transforming processes’ (events as agents of change), and
‘outcomes’ (desired and undesired impacts, including
externalities). Depending on one’s perspective, outcomes
and change processes might be interpreted as a positive or
negative impact.
It has been clear for some time that there has been a preoccupation
with the economic costs, roles and impacts of
events. So much research and applied work has been
devoted to this one theme that other outcomes have been
neglected, as well as development of suitable and convincing
measures of event impacts and value. However,
social and cultural outcomes and indicators are being
developed, and the environmental effects of events and
tourism are finally being addressed through research.
Carlsen, Getz, and Soutar (2001) sought to establish
broader measures of event impacts, and Sherwood, Jago,