Evaluating the Impact of a Tourist Event on a Destination

Events create different types of impact on the local economy and host communities. They can trigger a variety of short- or long-term, positive or negative impacts. Literature distinguishes the term ‘impact’ from ‘legacy’. While impacts affect the economy of the host place in the short-term, legacy remains longer than the event itself. Thus, if residents perceive benefits from the event, they will be supportive of hosting in the future. This chapter focuses on events as entrepreneurial opportunities of tourism and hospitality for a hosting place. It is based on the perceptions expressed by the different categories of local stakeholders involved in an international literary festival hosted in Italy. The study shows that evaluating and understanding the legacy effects for a place hosting an event, as perceived by the different local stakeholders involved, can provide managerial insights for planning, over time, events in the same place.