Events are a dynamic and fast-growing sector that has obvious synergies with tourism. If managed and hosted effectively, they can expand the visitor economy, provide media exposure, promote regional development, and stimulate the upgrading of infrastructure. The report focusses on those major one-off or recurring events with the ability to attract significant numbers of domestic or international participants/spectators, thus promoting changes in terms of territory dynamics and tourism development. The report considers a large number of country approaches (benefitting from inputs from Australia, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, South Africa and Turkey) to better understand events-related policy and practices used to promote tourism growth. A selection of key learnings are drawn for consideration by cities, regions and countries wishing to leverage the unique characteristics of major events to support the development of the visitor economy.
