Positive and Negative Effects of Mega-Events Paper Example

1. Problem or Challenge

Some local communities have been objecting hosting mega-events in their area because they do not understand its positive and negative effects. It is worth investigating the impact of the event on the local community to understand the benefits and drawbacks that the local community face when they host the mega event. Most of the research studies have focused on the positive and negative effect of the local community, but they have failed to look at why some communities resist hosting such events. There are several benefits of studying the impact of events on local people. It enables local people to know both social-cultural and economic benefits of hosting mega-events. In the course of carrying out this research study, the researcher will shed more light on the effect of the event to educate readers that games are useful and an essential development tool which can be used to upgrade a given local community. The same study will show the way events should be managed to ensure it is capable of bringing benefits to the local community. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate why local people do not embrace mega-events in their community. This can be achieved by highlighting the social and economic benefits of mega-events on the local community through the application of a given case study.

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2. Define key terms/ idea

2.1. Social Impacts

The primary key terms that must be defined in this study include social impacts, quality of life and subjective wellbeing. According to this study social impact is defined as any positive change in the life of the people living in a given community. Social implications cover any condition which makes people live a quality life (Viviers & Slabbert, 2012). The mega event is the agent which make people change the way of their lives. As a result, the effect of an event becomes the subject of the study. Any activity that takes place due to the presence of an event can be used in measuring its impact. For that matter, any phenomena which are investigated to measure social influence is what is called social impact indicator. They can either be a direct or indirect factor that shows the social impacts of an event. For example, the community members can be asked to state the social effects of mega-events or proxies can be requested.

2.2. Quality of Life

Quality of life is another term to define. It is a common term commonly applied in the study of the social impacts of events. QoL refers to an apparent condition in which members of a community expects to live. A person perceives to live a high QoL when he or she believes that his or her position in life is at par or is above the level the community values has imposed him or her on living rather than his prospects (Pfitzner & Koenigstorfer, 2016). The QoL of people living next to a place where there is a mega event change positively as the residents are likely to access job opportunities and better healthcare, create wealth and even entertainment.

2.3 Research question

This research seeks to find out why local people reject hosting mega-events in their local community. To find the solution to this problem, it is necessary for the researcher to answer the following research questions to understand the benefits of hosting mega-events.

• What are the critical economic and social impacts of mega-events on the local community?
• Why local people do not embrace hosting Mega-events
• To what extent do various events impact the lives of local people in their perception?

3. Impacts of Mega Event

3.1 Social and cultural impacts of Mega-events

Mega-events have both positive and negative effects on hosting community. Social events are capable of restoring cultural and social life of the local community (Allen et al, 2011). As a result, it builds community pride and ensures that the local community has a sense of identity (SuSic & Dordevic, 2011, Presenza & Iocca,2012). Furthermore, it is capable of making the city engage in other socio-economic activities which are not practiced in the local area thus increasing their wellbeing and quality of life (Gursoy et al., 2004). According to Elias (2005) supports the attraction of various attributes through the provision of multiple activities required by tourists and also enhance the overall image of the destination located near or within the local community (Viviers, 2010).

3.2 Economic impacts of the event on the local community.

Events have a positive consequence on the local hosting community (Ziakas & Costa, 2011). The event attracts very many people from different parts of the World, and they are likely to stay for a long time in a given destination thus spending much of their resources (Chalip & Layns, 2002, Cook et al, 2010). This makes local people receive high income from their businesses (Venkatesh, Brown & Bala, 2013). The Government also accepts high tax imposed on the revenues gained from tourists who are used in improving the condition of public goods such as roads (Gursoy et al., 2004, Cook and Marqua, 2010). Andereck et al. (2005) revealed that the economic effect of mega-events also improves the living standards of the local people which is also essential in enhancing the quality of life of the residents (Weaver & Lawton, 2013).

References

Allen, et al (2011). Festival & Special Event Management. Australia: John Wiley & Sons

Andereck, K.L., Valentine, K.M., Knopf, R.C. & Vogt, C.A. (2005). Residents' Perceptionsof Community Tourism Impacts. Annals of Tourism Research, 32(4), pp.1056-1076.

Chalip, L., & Leyns, A. (2002). Local Business Leveraging of a Sports Event: Managing an Event for Economic Benefit. Journal of Sports Management, 16, pp.132-158.

Cook, R.A.,Yale, L. J., Marqua, J. J.(2010). Tourism: the Business of Travel (4thEd.) Pearson Education Limited: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Cook, R.and Marqua, J. (2010). Tourism: the Business of Travel (4thEd.) Pearson Education Limited: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Gursoy, D., Kim, K. & Uysal, M. (2004). Perceived Impacts of Festivals and Special Eventsby Organisers: An Extension and Validation. Tourism Management, 25(2), pp.171-181.

Gursoy, D., Kim, K. & Uysal, M. (2004). Perceived Impacts of Festivals and Special Eventsby Organisers: An Extension and Validation. Tourism Management, 25(2), pp.171-181.

Pfitzner, R., & Koenigstorfer, J. (2016). Quality of life of residents living in a city hostingmega-sport events: A longitudinal study. BMC Public Health, 16(1), c2369. doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-3777-3

Venkatesh, V., Brown, S.A. & Bala, H. (2013). Bridging the qualitative -quantitative divide: Guidelines for conducting mixed methods research in information systems. MIS Quarterly, 37(1), pp. 21-54.

Viviers, P. (2010). Measuring Community Perceptions: an Instrument for sustaining festivals. Thesis-PHD. Potshefstroom, North-West University.

Viviers, P-A. & Slabbert, E. (2012). Towards an Instrument Measuring Community Perceptions of Impacts of Festivals. Journal of Human Ecology, 40(3), pp.197-212.

Weaver, D.B. & Lawton, L.J. (2013). Resident Preceptions of a Contentious Tourism Event. Tourism Management, 37, pp.165-175.

Weaver, D.B. & Lawton, L.J. (2013). Resident Preceptions of a Contentious Tourism Event. Tourism Management, 37, pp.165-175

Ziakas, V. & Costa, C.A. (2011). The Use of an Event Portfolio in Regional Community and Tourism Development: Creating Synergy between Sport and Cultural Events. Journal of Sport and Tourism, 16(2), pp. 149 -175.

SuSic, V. & Dordevic, D. (2011). The Place and Role of Events in the Tourist Development of the Southwest Serbia Cluster. Economic and Organization, 8(1), pp. 69-81

Presenza, A. & Iocca, S. (2012). The weight of stakeholders on festival management. The case of music festivals in Italy. PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 10(2), 77pp. 25-35