Predicting Economic, Social, and Cultural Benefits of Event Tourism in Smaller Cities: A Supply-Side Perspective

This study identifies the perceived economic, social, and cultural benefits of events in smaller UK cities, which have hitherto been neglected given the focus on large cities. It also adopts a multidestination perspective to address the call to widen research into event impacts away from single-event case studies. The article applies a cross-sectional approach to survey 111 city event managers and analyze their opinions on the event tourism antecedents contributing to perceived economic, social, and cultural benefits. The study’s theoretical contribution relates to the identification of five significant antecedents of economic benefits, three significant antecedents of social benefits, and one significant antecedent of cultural benefits. The article also outlines the practical implications of the findings to inform representatives of smaller cities seeking to use events to secure this range of benefits and develop a more strategic orientation.