Event Tourism and Sustainable Community Development: Advances, Effects, and Implications

The event tourism business has become more and more essential to community development in countries around the world, helping to increase the appeal of specific destinations and generating huge economic benefits for the communities of the destinations, impacting local economies. With examples from India, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Portugal, Argentina, and Zimbabwe, this volume provides a valuable examination of sustainable community development in conjunction with event tourism along with helpful tools for promoting, organizing, and hosting successful events.

This book looks at a wide range of festivals and other events around the world and examines their impact on tourism, sustainability, local culture and community, and community development. It highlights rural as well as urban event tourism, event tourism during and after COVID–19, how event tourism impacts women’s empowerment, promoting event tourism and community development, new opportunities and challenges in event tourism education, and more.

Ekta Dhariwal, PhD, is a social activist and Founder President of the NGO Aksham Kalyan Sansthan, India. She is a member of the Board of Management at the University of Kota, Rajasthan, India. She is a motivational speaker and has published several books and research papers in national and international journals. Dr. Dhariwal has been awarded a Sumatra Women Entrepreneurship Award in 2016 and Do Your Venture–Women Entrepreneurship Award in 2021 by the Indian Institute of Management.

Shruti Arora, PhD, is a guest faculty in the Department of Commerce and Management, University of Kota, Kota, Rajasthan, India. Her research has been published in national and international journals. She has authored the book Event Management and Marketing: Theory, Practical Approaches and Planning and co-edited Event Tourism in Asian Countries: Challenges and Prospects. Her description of the term “Food Walk Tourism” is published in the Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing.

Anukrati Sharma, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Commerce and Management, University of Kota, India. She has edited several books, including Overtourism: A Risk for Tourist Destinations: Impacts and Solution and Handbook of Information Technology and Communication on Tourism and Hospitality, among others. She has attended national and international conferences, presented over 45 papers, and given many talks, lectures, and panel discussions.

Azizul Hassan, PhD, is a member of the Tourism Consultants Network of the UK Tourism Society. His areas of research interest are hospitality-related technology-supported marketing, immersive technology applications, and the hospitality industry in developing countries. He has authored over 100 articles and book chapters in leading tourism outlets. He is also part of the editorial team of 15 book projects and is a regular reviewer for tourism journals.