Mega-Events Tourism and Sustainability: A Critique

Abstract

Event tourism has emerged as one of the most influential and rapidly growing forms of international tourism in the face of its recent history. Considered as an intersection of event management and tourism management, event tourism has been applauded for influencing both tourism demand and supply. However, in the recent past, the concept of event tourism has seen its fair share of criticisms especially with regards to mega-events. While some of the scholars have criticized it for not addressing ‘difficult’ questions like fiscal reforms, global power structures, injustice, inequality, and environmental degradation, others have accused it of providing shelter to crony capitalism. Issues like gender parity or equality remain big question marks in the study of event tourism. Further, the recent outbreak of COVID-19 has exhibited the high vulnerability aspect of mega-events in general. It is argued that event tourism must be examined through the lens of critical inquiry for it to move forward while addressing its grey areas. Hence, attempts have been made in this current study to trace out the dark sides of event tourism which can challenge its sustainability. The work is based on a systematic desk-based review of secondary data. Thematic content analysis has been employed to analyze the data collected. The paper concludes that despite its rising popularity, event tourism has many critical features and weak links that need to be addressed to ensure its sustainability.

Keywords: Event Tourism, Sustainability, Criticisms, Mega-Events, Infrastructure

JEL Classification: L83, G14, H20