A presentation given at the launch of the Cultur WB network on 18th November 2019, in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina

1. Dr James Kennell
University of Greenwich, UK
Reviving
Destinations
with Cultural
Events

2. What is the problem?
How can small cities and
emerging destinations
compete in a growing
market?
And how can they do it
without having to spend
money that they don’t
have?

3. • Huge growth in European Event
Tourism since 2008
• Temporary
• Low government investment
• Opportunities for new
partnerships with private sector
• There are lots of events in
search of a destination
Are events the answer?

4. Destination images Community engagement
Corporate investment Economic impact

6. Social Impacts
Social
impacts
Inconvenience
Identity and
cohesion
Personal
frustration
Entertainment
and socialising
Community
growth and
development
Behavioural
change
Negative social
impacts happen
automatically
Positive social
impacts need planning
and monitoring
Small (2007) adapted in Bladen, Kennell, Abson & Wilde (2018)

7. Economic Benefits
Direct
Indirect
€
Direct
• Event employment
• Accommodation
• Transport
• Food and Drink
• Merchandise
Indirect
• Multiplier effects
• Employment
• Taxation
• Infrastructure investment
• Improvements to destination image - tourism
Bladen, Kennell, Abson & Wilde (2018)

8. The impact machine
Every destination needs to create its own impact machine
It should bring together
• An impact infrastructure – opportunities for impacts
• Local knowledge
• Expert evaluators – from beyond government and funding
bodies
• Diverse methods of measurement
• Communities
(Hawkes, Kennell, Abson & Booth 2016)

9. What do you need to make this
work?
An
‘interesting’
destination
Partnerships
A great idea
Corporate
Investment
An impact
machine

10. Hvala!
Dr James Kennell
Department of Marketing, Events and Tourism
Faculty of Business
j.s.kennell@gre.ac.uk
@jameskennell
www.jameskennell.com