Economic Impact of Events and Festivals on Host Regions - Methods in Practice & Potential Sources of Bias

Abstract

Abstract Introduction. The topic of economic significance of sport events attracts substantial attention in the fields of sport event management and economics. The main objective of this article is to review international literature on economic impact of sport events, and in particular, to give a special thought to key features of primary economic impact studies and potential sources of bias. Material and methods. The paper builds upon an extensive international literature survey. Results. This paper provides an overview of studies on economic impact of events as well as it serves as a reference guide for further studies including empirical attempts. Notably, the latter is of great value for local decision makers and students who attempt to calculate direct economic impact of various sport events but are at the same time facing the lack of reference in this regard. Conclusions. The review concludes that (a) assessing the economic impact of an event is a non-trivial task and (b) there is still much to be learned about how to conduct economic impact assessment in a reliable manner.