Exploring Residents’ Perceptions of Mega Event-Dubai Expo 2020: A Pre-Event Perspective

Mohit Vij,Manoj Kumar,Anu Vij,Amitabh Upadhya

doi:10.3390/su11051322

Mohit Vij, Manoj Kumar + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su11051322

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Mar 3, 2019
Citations: 10	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Skyline University College, Al Ghurair University

Abstract

This study explores the residents’ perceptions of economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts of a mega-event (World Expo 2020) to be held in Dubai, as well as their level of inclination to participate in the event. The event organizers announced a requirement of thirty thousand volunteers to assist them in successfully organizing the mega event. Such events could prove to be landmarks in destination brand building and may lead to an increase in the number of tourists. The purpose of the study is to gauge the level of understanding about the event impacts within the resident population and their willingness to get involved in event organization. Priory studies of perceptions about the economic, cultural and environmental impacts of a mega-event, are well-nigh non-existent, especially for World Expositions. This study explores residents’ perception to get a fair idea of how they get involved in a mega event that will surely have profound impacts on the destination. Drawing on stakeholder theory and triple bottom line (TBL) model, the study uses primary data collected from more than two hundred fifty residents of the region, through a structured questionnaire. The data analysis follows a descriptive design supported by SEM and path analysis. Major findings indicate favorable and promising responses from the residents, and brings forth the scope to improve the level of involvement of the residents to make the event a success.

Highlights

Mega events are perceived as events which are organized on a larger scale with profound impacts on the economy of a country
There remains a shortage of scholarly studies conducted exclusively on world expositions which are organized every five years and at different places
The questions asked in the questionnaire were framed on the premise that residents’ perceptions towards any kind of tourism development can be categorized under the economic, social and environmental dimensions as previously established in research work [46,47,48,49,50,51,52]

Summary

Introduction

Mega events are perceived as events which are organized on a larger scale with profound impacts on the economy of a country. Mega events tend to be extremely resource-intensive, but given their potential to boost cultural tourism and destination brand building, often receive a substantial public subsidy ([3,4]). Few previously conducted studies have analyzed these impacts, only a handful of those took into account the residents’ perceptions about the event before it has happened These pre-event perceptions are generally based on speculations which need to be regulated by the organizers to win residents’ confidence and eventually their involvement for the successful conduct of the mega event [9]

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