Author(s)

E. Slabbert & M Saayman

Abstract

Festivals and events, also referred to in the context of this article, as events tourism, are widely recognised as one of the fastest growing types of tourism attractions and there are more cities than ever before bidding to host events globally. It has been suggested that the magnitude of events now justifies their recognition, along with ambient attractions (climate, scenery, culture and wildlife) and permanent attractions (theme parks, historical sites, sports facilities and convention centres) as one of the three major categories of tourism attractions. Although events have started many years ago, what is new today is the scale of event tourism with many cities seeking to specialise in the creation and hosting of events due to the economic and marketing benefits they bring. The aim of this paper is to develop an integrated event tourism model that can assist regions/destinations in utilising cultural events as growth catalysts. Findings indicated that it is crucial for tourists/visitors, the business sector, the local community, government, sponsors and the event organisers to be integrated in the strategic planning and management process. Keywords: tourism, tourism industry, event tourism, events, growth catalyst, tourism planning, festival, sustainable tourism, sustainable events, integrated tourism model. 1 Introduction Festivals and special events serve as important attractors for destinations, provide unique experiences for visitors (Kim and Uysal [1]) and have the ability to offer significant benefits to any city or destination. At the same time are likely to entail considerable resource utilisation and enormous risk (Emery [2]) if not managed properly. According to Crompton and McKay [3] festivals are widely

Keywords

tourism, tourism industry, event tourism, events, growth catalyst, tourism planning, festival, sustainable tourism, sustainable events, integrated tourism model.