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.