6,135 research outputs found
The impact of mega-events on tourist arrivals
Get PDFWhile a mega-event is scheduled at least once every year somewhere in the world, these events are rare occurrences for the host cities and countries. The benefits of such events seem lucrative; the very fact that many countries bid to host these events suggests that the benefits - be they tangible or intangible - more often than not outweigh the costs. Using a standard gravity model of bilateral tourism flows between 200 countries from 1995 to 2006, this paper measures a very direct benefit of such mega-events: the increase in tourist arrivals to the host country. Although ex ante expectations are that tourism numbers would increase significantly during such an event, a growing literature points to the careful appraisal of possible tourist displacement, i.e. 'regular' tourists that change their behaviour when a mega-event is held, either shifting their trip to a different time or different location. This may result in reduced tourism gain, or even loss. In general, results suggest that mega-events promote tourism but the gain is dependent on the type of mega-event, the participating countries, the host country’s level of development, and whether the event is held during the peak- or off-season.Mega-events, panel data, development, international tourism
Volunteers and mega sporting events : developing a research framework
No full textInterest in all aspects of the politics, financing, planning, management and operation of mega sporting events has been highlighted both by success stories and ongoing problems associated with Olympic Games, Football World Cups and other similar events. There is a growing literature that addresses these and related matters through both case history and comparative analyses. Within the context of mega sporting events, the issue of employment creation is an important motivator for host cities and features high on the political justification agenda for bids to host events. At the same time, the most significant working contribution to major mega events in sports, as in other areas, is provided by the very large numbers of volunteers who undertake tasks across the range of opportunities afforded by such events. Numbers of volunteers between 40,000 and 60,000 have been noted for some recent major events. Relatively little is known about these volunteers at mega sporting events and yet their contribution and wider impact is very significant, both to the events themselves and within the host community. This paper seeks to identify the evident gaps that exist in understanding areas such as what volunteers do at mega sporting events; who they are; what motivates them; how volunteering impacts upon their lives; what associated activities they do surrounding the event in the host city; and the extent to which volunteering is recidivistic. The paper concludes with the presentation of a tentative research framework agenda in order to guide future study of this important area
Mega-sporting Events as Experience Goods
Get PDFThis paper tests the hypothesis that a nation’s hosting of a mega-sporting event is an experience good for its residents. Applying data from an ex-ante and ex-post query based on contingent valuation methods, we use the Soccer World Cup 2006 as a natural experiment. The significant ex-post increase in valuation is shown to be due to adventitious citizens requiring an involving experience, rather than to an updating of a-prior assessment.Experience goods, contingent valuation method, World Cup
IMPACTS OF OLYMPICS ON EXPORTS AND TOURISM
Get PDFThere have been debates on the effects of Olympics on economy. Previous studies estimated the direct benefits and costs of Olympic Games, and concluded that the net effects were positive or negative depending on specific assumptions used for evaluations. Recent studies turn attentions to indirect benefits. For example, signaling model by Rose and Spiegel (2010) argues that mega events are the signals of liberalization the country sends, and that the hosting of mega events spurs exports. This paper more thoroughly estimates the effects of Summer Olympics on exports and tourism using the Rose and Spiegel¡¯s data set extended up to 2008. Our empirical results show that the Summer Olympics have positively and significantly affected exports and tourists. The patterns are, however, different for exports and tourists. The effects on exports are slow and persist for long periods of time, whereas those on tourists are quick and short-lived. This finding is robust to different specifications. This result implies that, without carefully considering the time horizons of the effects of mega events, impact studies may be prone to over- or under-estimating the benefits of the mega events.Mega Events, Olympics, Tourists, Gravity Model
Mega-events, community stakeholders and legacy: London 2012.
No full textThis study highlights the treatment of the smaller stakeholders for whom the social legacy impacts are potentially the greatest within mega-event planning. The aim of this research is to develop a framework of urban regeneration legacy associated with the hosting of mega-events where the local community are key stakeholders, and where they can gain long-term positive social legacies. Mega-events, such as the Olympic Games, are widely held to bring a variety of positive social benefits through the process of urban regeneration. This research is built around the development of a conceptual framework of social legacy impacts arising from the urban regeneration planned through hosting the Olympic Games. Social legacy impacts, also referred to as soft impacts, are those which are intangible and affect individuals within their everyday lives in the longer term. This research is concerned with the social legacy impacts of The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the ‘community’ (being defined as those, who have either lived, worked or have some social connection with the area within the proposed Olympic Park site) in the Lower Lea Valley site in east London, and how they have or have not been recognised as stakeholders. A stakeholder being an individual or group who will be affected by the actions, decisions or policies of the Games organisers, within the planning of the Games.
Key informant interviews have been undertaken with individuals who have had a stake in the planning of the Barcelona Games of 1992, Sydney Games of 2000 and the planning of the London 2012 Games. Each interview involved a semi-structured conversation, encouraging the interviewees to recount their experiences of the planning of these mega-events from the perspectives of the communities involved and the social legacy planning. Interviews were analysed thematically. The main themes to emerge focus on legacy identification, community identification, the importance of regeneration for the existing community, the need to identify power relationships and the need for knowledge transfer and experience. The study shows that, for some ‘communities’, the opportunity to gain positive social benefits are too late as they themselves have already been relocated. The study has developed the Olympic Legacy Management Stakeholder framework to help communities to become more active as stakeholders within future mega-event planning through, amongst other things, recognising the different power relationships that exist
South African mega-events and their impact on tourism
Get PDFThe 2010 FIFA World Cup, one of the largest mega-sport events, has stirred renewed interest in the benefits that a host country can derive from these events. While most predict a large increase in the number of tourist arrivals, the recent international literature suggest that ex ante studies are often too optimistic. South Africa has played host to numerous mega-events since 1994. Using a time-series auto-regressive model, we identify increases in tourism numbers for most of these events, controlling for a number of variables standard in predicting tourism flows. However, smaller events, especially those held during summer months, show little increase in tourist arrivals. We disaggregate tourism arrivals to show that, as expected, tourists from participating countries increase the most. Contrary to the international literature, we find little evidence of displacement. This could be as a result of off-season scheduling or because the relative size of these events does not reflect that of the FIFA World Cup or Olympic Games.sport, tourist arrivals, World Cup, developing countries
The Employment and Fiscal Effects of Michigan's MEGA Tax Credit Program
Get PDFThis paper estimates that Michigan's MEGA tax credit program to attract and retain businesses has large employment and fiscal benefits. MEGA provides discretionary tax credits to businesses, with the tax credit tied to the personal income taxes paid by employees on the new or retained jobs. We estimate the economic effects of MEGA using the Upjohn Institute's REMI model, and the research literature on how business location decisions respond to taxes. We estimate the fiscal effects of MEGA based on the research literature on how government spending and revenue respond to state personal income and population. The estimates suggest a lower bound to MEGA's effectiveness of being decisive in a little over 8 percent of the MEGA projects. Even with this modest success rate, MEGA is estimated to have fiscal benefits that offset about two-thirds of its gross fiscal costs. The net fiscal costs per job created of MEGA average less than $4,000 per job-year, which is less than the labor market benefits of job creation.State and local economic development policy, tax incentives, fiscal impact analysis, labor market benefits, regional multipliers
Are media reports representative of host community support for mega-events? The case of Sydney world youth day 2008
No full textWorld Youth Day 2008 (WYD08) held during July was the fourth mega-event to be held in Sydney in the past decade. All mega-events, such as WYD08, attract considerable media attention in the lead up to, during, and after the event. In the lead up to WYD08, media reports, particularly those in the Australian written press, were predominately negative. These reports gave the impression that there was little, if any, support for holding the event among the residents of Sydney. Data were collected through a combination of document analysis and host community interviews, in the lead up to, during, and immediately following the event. The document analysis included two local Sydney newspapers and one national newspaper. The findings show that printed media reports were not an accurate reflection of community support. Given that media is believed to be not only influenced by public opinion, but also capable of influencing public opinion, why was there such disparity between media reports and other sources of evidence regarding community support for this event? There is a call for more research investigating if what is reflected in the media is a fair approximation of community response to events
Mega-authorship implications: How many scientists can fit into one cell?
No full textThe past 20 years has seen a significant increase in articles with 500 or more authors. This increase has presented problems in terms of determining true authorship versus other types of contribution, issues with database metadata and data output, and publication length. Using items with 500+ authors deemed as mega-author titles, a total of 5,533 mega-author items were identified using InCites. Metadata about the items was then gathered from Web of Science and Scopus. Close examination of these items found that the vast majority of these covered physics topics, with medicine a far distant second place and only minor representation from other science fields. This mega-authorship saw significant events that appear to correspond to similar events in the Large Hadron Collider’s timeline, indicating that the projects for the collider are driving this heavy output. Some solutions are offered for the problems resulting from this phenomenon, partially driven by recommendations from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.</p
Mega-Sporting Events in Developing Nations : Playing the Way to Prosperity?
Get PDFSupporters of mega-sporting events such as the World Cup and Olympics claim that these events attract hoards of wealthy visitors and lead to lasting economic benefits for the host regions. For this reason, cities and countries compete vigorously for the right to stage these spectacles. Recently, developing countries have become increasingly vocal in demanding that they get the right to share in the economic benefits of these international games. China, for example, has been awarded the 2008 Summer Olympics, and an African nation seems destined to host the 2010 World Cup. The specialized infrastructure and operating expenses required to host these events, however, can be extremely costly, and it is not at all clear that either the long or short-term benefits of the games are anywhere nearly large enough to cover these costs. This paper reviews other researchersÂ’ as well as our own previous work on mega-sporting events such as the Super Bowl and World Series as well as international events like the World Cup and Olympics. Independent researchers nearly unanimously find that boostersÂ’ projections of the economic impact of sporting events exaggerate the true economic impact of these competitions by a wide margin. In particular, in this paper we focus on the particular circumstances that face developing countries hosting these games. Our research suggests that in most cases mega-sporting events are an even worse investment for developing countries than for industrialized countries.Development Planning and Policy; Sports, Gambling, Recreation, Tourism
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