“Mega cultural events: does attendance affect residents’ perceptions of a city’s identity?”

«Abstract Events are frequently planned with a goal of attracting tourists to a destination. However, studies about the impact of a mega cultural event on residents’ identity are scarce. This research is based on the premise that hosting a mega cultural event can, to a significant degree, change a few of the attributes of the city’s identity as it is perceived by its residents. Specifically, the objective of the study is to identify the attributes of the city and compare the differences found between different groups of residents (attendees vs. non-attendees) before and after a mega cultural event. For this purpose, we focus our attention on Guimarães the ECOC 2012 (2012 European Capital of Culture) and the perceptions of the residents of this city. Several significant findings are reported and their implications for event managers and public policy administrators presented, along with the limitations of the study. 

Keywords: city’s identity; residents’ perceptions of effects; mega cultural event; event-induced tourism; Guimarães, Portugal.»

J. Freitas Santos 

Porto Polytechnic, Institute of Accounting and Business/CECEJ and Universidade do Minho/NIPE, Matosinhos, Portugal, jfsantosscap.ipp.pt 

Laurentina Vareiro 

School of Management, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, Barcelos, Portugal, lvareiro@ipca.pt

Paula Remoaldo 

Department of Geography – Institute of Social Sciences, Campus de Gualtar, Braga, Portugal , premoaldo@geografia.uminho.pt 

J. Cadima Ribeiro 

School of Economics and Management and NIPE, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Braga, Portugal, jcadima@eeg.uminho.pt

(reprodução de resumo de Documento de Trabalho NIPE * WP 10/2015, entretanto tornado público no sítio da unidade de investigação -

http://www.nipe.eeg.uminho.pt/Uploads/WP_2015/NIPE_WP_10_2015.pdf)