Mid Sweden University

As an alternative to contemporary linear-extractive models of the economy, the concept of the circular economy has gained increasing popularity. It has been suggested that small-scale tourism and creative businesses’ circular socio-relational activities facilitate regenerative processes for places, natural assets, and all living creatures by prompting a multiplicity of transformative and creative interactions among regional stakeholders. The tourism literature has adopted the concept of the circular economy only recently; however, it has remained mostly conceptual. Against this background, this chapter presents an advanced input–output methodology to assess how regional cultural tourism and major creative subsectors favour the formation of a regional circular economy. Through a brief literature review, the chapter first discusses the relationships between cultural tourism and the creative sectors that are responsible for fostering regenerative processes and are thus crucial in building a regional circular economy. Second, the input–output methodology employed for the Swedish county of Jämtland Härjedalen is introduced. The gained findings demonstrate the crucial role of the cultural tourism and creative sectors in transforming current linear-extractive economies into regional circular economies. The conclusion outlines limitations and sketches an agenda for future research.circular economy, cultural tourism, creative sectors, input–output methodology, regionalization. 

Event portfolios play a crucial role in regional development, fostering economic growth, community identity, and destination branding. While economic impacts of events have been extensively studied, their social impacts-especially at the portfolio level- remain underexplored. This paper addresses this gap by applying Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to measure the non-use value of a regional event portfolio in Jämtland, Sweden. Using survey data from 414 regional residents, we assess willingness to pay (WTP) for twelve prominent events, capturing the perceived social value beyond direct participation. Findings indicate significant variation in WTP across different event types and demographic groups, with sports and cultural events eliciting distinct patterns of valuation. Results suggest that non-use value is a viable metric for assessing the social impact of event portfolios, providing policymakers and event managers with actionable insights for strategic planning. This study contributes to event portfolio research by demonstrating how CVM can be systematically applied to quantify social value, offering a framework for more informed event policy and funding decisions.

Events are often seen important elements in regional development strategies, including strengthening community cohesion and identity, and shaping destination branding (Chalip, 2017). For communities that host a range of events throughout a year, the combined effect of these events for residents is often left unexplored. In contrast to singular events, which largely result in short-term economic and social impacts, such event portfolios (i.e. the collective assortment of various types of events staged within a community or region) are suited to generate long-term, sustainable benefits for communities by fostering continuous engagement and boosting the destination's attractiveness year-round. Distributing benefits over a broader timeframe creates a more balanced resource allocation and offers resilience against external shocks that can affect singular events (Anderson et al., 2014; Ziakas and Getz, 2021). 

While considerable research has focused on assessing the economic and logistical success of individual events, there remains a critical gap in the evaluation of entire event portfolios. This research gap is especially pronounced when it comes to assessing the social impacts of these portfolios. Unlike economic impacts, social impacts are challenging to define due to the lack of a clear consensus on what they encompass. Especially, efforts to compare and assess social impacts across event portfolios constitutes a methodological and epistemological challenge (Fredline et al., 2003). Without reliable methods for assessing the social impacts of event portfolios, policymakers and event managers are left with a skewed understanding of the values that events provide. The risk here is that decisions about resource allocation, community engagement, and strategic planning are made without an assessment of the social benefits that various events bring to the table (Chalip, 2006). 

Previous event literature on social impacts encompasses, among others, community pride, social cohesion, and cultural exchange, yet there is little consensus on how these impacts should be compared across a comprehensive portfolio (Fredline et al., 2003). One of the core challenges in assessing social impacts lies in their subjective nature, as they depend on individual perceptions, cultural context, and how deeply the event is embedded in the community fabric. A pragmatic approach to evaluating social impacts across an event portfolio is measuring these impacts quantitatively. The contingent valuation method (CVM) is an economic valuation technique used to measure the value individuals place on non-market goods and services, including public goods and cultural assets (Mitchell & Carson, 1989). CVM has been applied to a range of areas, including cost-benefit analyses, public policies, or event studies. However, it has not been applied to evaluate entire event portfolios. 

This paper suggests that (CVM) can be used to evaluate the social impacts of event portfolios that are partly funded publicly, particularly with non-use values. The latter is a measure that captures the value residents place on an event, even if they do not directly participate in it but still can contribute to social impacts, e.g. pride (Bateman et al., 2002). Our study involves 12 major events as part of the event portfolio of the Swedish region Jämtland. The region positions itself as a tourism and event region, as - compared to other regions - a relatively higher share of people is employed in tourism sectors and part of the region’s sustainability strategy includes establishing ten annually recurring events by 2030 and one mega event every at least third year from 2030 (JHT 2016). The aim is to enhance the destination’s brand identity attracting both local and international audiences, focusing on sustainability and community involvement to enhance the appeal and impact of its events. 

A survey was distributed to a panel of regional residents which generated a representative sample of 414 responses, weighted according to gender, age and education. Respondents were asked how much they would be willing to pay in local taxes[1] to support the event if organizers could no longer fund it, even if they didn’t personally attend. The events in the study included nine sports events (four annual tournaments, four home games of local sports teams and one proposed bid for the Winter Olympics 2026) and three cultural events (two annual markets and one annual music festival). We applied inferential design using ANOVA and t-tests to identify group differences. Results show that the highest degree of public support is enjoyed by annual tournaments whereas the lowest rates of support were found to be connected to an annual market. Interestingly a potential one-time winter Olympics ranked highest in terms of willingness-to-pay. Further analysis shows that there exist statistically significant gender differences where women tend to have a higher willingness-to-pay and a more positive attitude and towards the public support of events. Also, the difference between age groups is statistically significant, indicating a general stronger support of the younger populations with regards to cultural events. 

Whilst non-use value has been applied to events before, it has to our knowledge never been used on an event portfolio basis. By demonstrating the applicability of CVM to event portfolios, we contribute a methodological framework that addresses the critical gap in social impact assessment. Policymakers should consider incorporating CVM assessments into regular evaluation cycles to inform funding decisions and policy formulation. The active involvement of residents in evaluative efforts would likely also serve to strengthen the sense of ownership of and support for, efforts to develop the regional event portfolio. Recognizing and accommodating diverse demographic preferences will enhance the sustainable development of regions, ultimately contributing to community cohesion, identity, and well-being. As limitation, this study relies on self-reported willingness-to-pay that may be influenced by hypothetical bias. Also, a quantitative perspective does not provide a full understanding of social impacts and may be complemented with more qualitative insights. 

Traditional measurements of tourism’s economic impact refer to primary and secondary effects that are typically quantified through input–output (IO) methodology. From a sustainable regional development perspective, however, economic impact analyses are criticised for their one-dimensional analysis focussing mainly on growth-oriented effects represented by aggregates for output, employment, income or tax. Although existing literature comprises various extensions of IO models, the focus of these models is restricted to indicators at a high aggregate level. Thus, distributional or other socio-economically important aspects related to the tourism workforce are seldom discussed. In our approach to study tourism’s impacts over a nine-year period, we consider macro-and meso-level perspectives and disaggregate tourism’s impact on regional employment and income for particular occupational areas in the Swedish region of Jämtland. Results indicate weakening employment effects; relatively low but increasing income-inequalities; and increasing shares of elementary positions with precarious working conditions despite para-industrial initiatives from tourism institutions to develop the industry. By enhancing traditional tourism economic impact methodology, we hope that our approach is supportive in putting the tourism workforce at the heart of the regional development and tourism sustainability discourse.

Aktörer och beslutsfattare på statlig, regional, kommunal och destinationsnivå, behöver veta vad evenemangen man stöder betyder för samhället. Kunskap om evenemangseffekter är viktig för att bestämma hur man bör förhålla sig till nuvarande och framtida evenemang. Inte minst efterfrågas de ekonomiska effekter som evenemang förväntas bidra med, då dessa ofta ligger till grund för synen på stöd, finansiering och samhällsnytta.

Syftet med guiden är att ge en snabb och populärvetenskaplig introduktion till turismekonomiska utvärderingar av evenemang så att de som beställer, utför, eller läser utvärderingar, får en översikt över de viktigaste frågorna att ställa för att kunna säkerställa att utvärderingen i fråga är ändamålsenlig. Guiden har framställts av forskare på ETOUR vid Mittuniversitetet.