Festivals have become a global phenomenon and now serve as a platform to promote the
leisure and tourism industry within a nation. These events have an undisputed economic effect
– not only on the hosting community – but also on the global community. Despite the
encouraging community support and the socio-economic impact and spin-offs that are
generated by means of such events, the financing of art festivals remains an intricate issue. The
fact remains that not all festivals are financially self-sustainable and so require extensive
sponsorship in order to ensure the continuation of the event. Limited government funding
available due to budget constraints curbs the financial support forthcoming from municipalities
and so forces event organisers to seek alternative funding to ensure the survival and feasibility
of events. This responsibility places an additional burden on event organisers and so
necessitates the use of assessment tools in order to convince private and public institutions or
individuals to invest in such events through sponsorships.
During an extensive literature study, it became apparent that the need exists to re-assess fully
the economic impact analysis of events. The literature revealed that varying models are used to
conduct economic impact analyses. In order to establish a concise framework within which to
conduct an economic assessment, it was decided to select only the most-used models –
Computable General Equilibrium (CGE), Input-Output (I-O) and Social Accounting Matrix
(SAM). The dilemma facing tourism economists is to determine which economic assessment
approach is most effective as every methodology has its own advantages and disadvantages. In
addition, the type and size of an event also plays a fundamental role when selecting an
appropriate measuring tool. This research was further motivated because of the existing gap
that exists in the South African context for no study has yet been conducted where the various
models that assess economic impact have been applied to the collated data of the same event.
This study thus aims to provide an overview and a comparison of competing and supplementing
methodologies for modelling the regional economic dynamics and the impacts of events. It
further investigates the manner in which regional CGE, I-O and SAM based (multiplier) models
operate towards capturing the region-specific, inter-regional and multi-regional production,
consumption and factor market patterns as result of expenditures incurred during events. An
analysis of the virtues and the limitations of these economic assessment methodologies
suggests that it may be the considerations such as the data collection/compilation, expected
output, research objectives and costs involved that ultimately determine the choice of a specific
modelling framework.
While addressing the problem stated above, this study produced the following three articles that
are now embodied in the work:
* Article 1 - “Critical assessment of economic impact analyses of the ABSA Klein Karoo
National Arts Festival”, and
* Article 2 - “Critical assessment of economic impact analyses of the Aardklop National
Arts Festival”.
Article 2 investigated and compared the economic assessment results when applying specific
constructed models, being the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) and Computable General
Equilibrium (CGE) for the appropriate provinces, to the available data obtained from previous
surveys conducted at the 2010 ABSA Klein Karoo National Arts Festival and from the Aardklop
National Arts Festival. The two articles indicated that when different models of assessment are
applied to the same data set of an event, the economic impact results might differ significantly.
This may serve as a warning to economic assessors, academics and researchers that economic
impact results can be misleading and therefore the application thereof should be handled with
the utmost care in order to avoid misinterpretations and misconceptions.
* Article 3, “Assessing the economic impact of the Aardklop National Arts Festival: a feast
of models to opt for – or not?”
In this article, data from a visitor and business survey conducted at the 2010 Aardklop National
Arts Festival was used in the analyses made by applying SAM, CGE and I-O regional models
constructed for South Africa’s Northwest Province. Results from these analyses were then
compared in order to give researchers and practitioners a better insight and clarity regarding
which approach works best for the economic assessment of an arts festival. This article
highlighted the fact that the measured economic impact results differ when various models that
are applied to the same event. It also became evident that the most conservative economic
impact was measured by an I-O model, followed with a higher SAM measurement, while CGE
revealed the highest economic assessment.
The most significant contribution of this study is embedded in the fact that within the South
African context – and even globally – it is the first study of its kind that aimed to determine the
economic impact by means of applying more than one assessment model to the data set of a
single event. Further, this study provides guidelines for event organisers, academics and
economic advisors to follow in conjunction with the existing body of knowledge and practical
implementation structures when assessing the economic impact of events. / Thesis (PhD (Tourism Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NWUBOLOKA1/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/8630 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Van Wyk, Lukas Johannes Meyer |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | North-West University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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