Tourism is the act of travel for the purpose of recreation and leisure, and also refers to the provision of services to achieve this goal. As the number of tourists worldwide is rising, so do their expectations and needs for specific experiences. There lays the role of events and their significance in modern tourism. Events are not only one of the most important parts of tourism, but also inseparable part of human society. They are global phenomenon which is gaining greater and greater importance through the event industry. There are a number of different types of events in the world, and there are more arising every year. Under these circumstances, the key role of success of certain event lies in proper strategic planning. The subject of this paper is to present the roles of events in contemporary tourism and to define their origins, classification, tourist value, impacts and outcomes.