Abstract
Sustainable events are managed with the aim of contributing to sustainable development through promoting inter- and intragenerational equity (Getz, J Policy Res Tourism Leis Events 1(1):61–78, 2009; Hall, Event Manag 16(2):119–131, 2012; Smith-Christensen C (2009) Sustainability as a concept within events. In: Raj R, Musgrave J (eds) Event management and sustainability. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, pp 22–31). The main objective of event sustainability is to maximize benefits while minimizing negative impacts, with the specific purpose of leaving a positive legacy for all stakeholders. The prevailing approach in the field of event sustainability is based on the triple bottom line framework (Elkington J (1997) Cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business. Capston, Oxford) and takes into account the economic, socio-cultural, and environmental impacts of events (Andersson and Lundberg, Tourism Manag 37:99–109, 2013).
Regardless of event size, theme, and scope, the number of visitors has a significant impact on sustainable management practices. As the number of participants at an event increases, achieving sustainability becomes more challenging, because of the higher pressure on resources and on the local community.
While sustainability represents undoubtedly a difficult challenge for event organizers, requiring new competencies and management practices, it also presents opportunities. Indeed, event sustainability can contribute to improving reputation and legitimacy, strengthening relations with stakeholders, and even achieving cost reductions.
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Chirieleison, C., Rizzi, F. (2023). Sustainable Events. In: Idowu, S.O., Schmidpeter, R., Capaldi, N., Zu, L., Del Baldo, M., Abreu, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25984-5_136
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