Measuring the Social Impacts of Events – Resident Reactions to the North Sea
Jazz Festival Cape Town
Dr Kamilla Swart (Cape Peninsula University of Technology) and Prof. Urmilla Bob
(University of KwaZulu-Natal Westville Campus)
Tourism destination managers are increasingly looking at events as an important
mechanism for enhancing tourism development in their regions (Fredline, Jago &
Deery, 2003). However, there has been a dearth of research in this area in South
Africa and it is necessary to evaluate the impact of events in a holistic manner. In a
recent study conducted by South African Tourism (2002), it was reported that while
South Africa has hosted a number of major events that have contributed positively
towards tourism growth and the economy, the extent and nature of these impacts have
not been properly understood. Moreover, an analysis of the impact studies of some of
these events revealed that the social and environmental impacts of events received
little consideration.
Relatively few impact studies have specifically examined residents’ attitudes toward
event tourism in their community (Turco, Riley & Swart, 2002). The South African
Tourism study noted that event evaluation and research capacities is a multi-faceted
endeavour including skills development, adopting and creating appropriate
technologies and tools, the development of a supportive institutional framework as
well as developing a culture of research and evaluation within the event tourism
sector amongst the various stakeholders.
The North Sea Jazz Festival Cape Town (NSJF) is currently being marketed as one of
the major cultural events on the Cape of Great Events Calendar, however only an
economic impact analysis has been conducted to date (ESPAfrika, 2003). In line
with the National Responsible Tourism Guidelines for South Africa (2002), a triple
bottom-line approach was used to understand the economic, social and environmental
impacts of the NSJF. The triple bottom-line approach is useful in highlighting the
various positive and negative impacts of an event and provides a richer understanding
of context in which an event organiser operates. This paper focuses specifically on the
residents’ perceptions of the NSJF as an illustration of social impacts. Residents were
surveyed at both the free concert and the paid for event. It reveals that irrespective of
their exposure to its impacts, the benefits of the event are recognised. Residents
indicated that the NSJF added to their quality of life and the social fabric of the city.
This seems to indicate that it imperative for event organisers/ tourism planners to
consider ways to enhance community participation at events to ensure ongoing
community support.
References
ESPAfrika. 2003. An Economic Impact Assessment of the North Sea Jazz Festival.
Author: Cape Town. Unpublished Report.
Fredline, E., Jago, L. and Deery, M. 2003. The development of a generic scale to
measure the social impacts of events, Event Management, 8(1):23-37.
South Africa. Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. 2002. National
responsible tourism development provisional guidelines. Pretoria: Government
Printer.
South African Tourism (2002). Towards a national event strategy.
http://wwwenvironment.gov.za/Documents/Documents/2003Jun17/national_event_str
ategy_17062003.html
Turco, D.M, Riley, R. & Swart, K. 2002. Sport tourism. Morgantown, WV: Fitness
Information Technologies.
Authors
Kamilla Swart, Ed.D.
Senior Lecturer (Tourism Management)
Faculty of Management
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
PO Box 652, Cape Town, South Africa, 8000
Tel: 021 460 3023
Fax: 021 460 3716
Email : swartk@cput.ac.za
Website: www.cput.ac.za
Kamilla Swart is Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management, Cape Peninsula University
of Technology, Cape Town. She is a co-author of a sport tourism text, Sport Tourism,
(Fitness Information Technology, 2002) and acted as sponsorship consultant at
Octagon South Africa and worked at the Cape Town 2004 Olympic Bid Company.
She has published on varied topics relating to the bidding of sport tourism events and
the on the impacts of sport tourism events in South Africa (Journal of Sport Tourism).
Her latest publication, co-authored with Prof. Bob, is “The seductive discourse of
development: the Cape Town 2004 Olympic bid” (Third World Quarterly). She has
also conducted research on the impacts of festivals and published in the field of
ecotourism.
Urmilla Bob, Ph.D.
Associate Professor (Geography)
School of Environment Sciences
University of KwaZulu-Natal (Westville Campus)
Private Bag X54001, Durban, South Africa, 4000
Tel: 031 260 7656
Fax: 031 260 7317
Email: bobu@ukzn.ac.za
Website: www.ukzn.ac.za
Urmilla Bob is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of KwaZuluNatal, Durban. E-mail: bobu@ukzn.ac.za. She conducts research on the socioeconomic impact assessments of tourism events and has published in the fields of
ecotourism and gender and rural development. She has co-authored (with Kamilla
Swart) Towards a National Events Strategy for South Africa (SA Tourism, 2002).
Some of the journals she has published include South African Geographical Journal,
Alternation, Agenda and GeoJournal.