Interpreting economic impact study results: spending patterns, visitor numbers and festival aims

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Periodical article

Title:	Interpreting economic impact study results: spending patterns, visitor numbers and festival aims
Author:	Snowball, J.D.
Year:	2004
Periodical:	South African Journal of Economics
Volume:	72
Issue:	5
Pages:	1075-1083
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	festivals financing
External link:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1813-6982.2004.tb00146.x/pdf
Abstract:	As competition for public and private sponsorship of events, such as arts festivals, increases, economic impact studies are becoming ever more popular. Such studies can help to motivate for funding by giving a quantitative measure of the financial impact of the event on the community, as well as projected increases in employment. This paper discusses the significance of the spending patterns of festival attendants, the calculation of visitor numbers and the usefulness of economic impact studies, using research conducted on the 2002 Grahamstown National Arts Festival in South Africa and the Grahamstown SciFest, updated, where appropriate, with 2003 data. The paper concludes that visitor spending patterns and visitor numbers be examined with care, and points out that for festivals which are heavily subsidized with nonpecuniary aims, economic impact studies may not be the best way to measure their effect on society. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]