The Positive And Negative Impacts Of Festival Tourism

Overtime there has been tremendous development in the field of tourism which has allowed the industry to become one of the fastest growing industries on the planet. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Tourism Highlights 2016 Edition, “over the past six decades, tourism has experienced continued expansion and diversification to become one of the largest and fastest-growing economic sectors in the world.”

In any tourism dependent destination, the sector has turned out to be one of the most important industries, as it evidently increases employment and the economic value of the countries which heavily relies on its development. The UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2016 Edition records that “a number of destinations

Festival Tourism

Research show that there is a common trend to categorize festivals and event tourism under one group due to the understanding of both terms. Several authors agree that the two terms are used to explain the same meaning.

Getz in his article, defined event tourism as the propensity of travel to attend events, both on the part of dedicated event tourists who are motivated to travel for specific events and other tourists who attend events while away from home. (Getz, 2015) He also suggested festival tourism as being inclusive of all planned events in an integrated approach to development and marketing. (Getz, 2007)

Cudny (2013) in her article noted that events can be regarded as festivals. She refers to a study conducted by Polish and Slovak geographers who listed the basic features of festivals, they noted that festivals are varied, uncommon events, unconnected with work, which celebrate elements significant in the life of a given community, consolidating it, and are often related to the culture and religion of local communities, they often consist of many different social and cultural events, and are often regular events connected with art and

This statement simply suggests that the type and size of the event is directly related to the amount and type of impacts created.

Firstly, one common positive impact which festival tourism brings to a community or destination is the promotion and preservation of natural heritage, Cudny in her research argues that “the preservation of natural heritage may then lead to the development of sustainable tourism development in the destination”, an example of this impact was noted in her research as The Włodzimierz Puchalski International Nature Festival an annual festival held in