Analyzing the Event Industry's Impact on Melbourne's Regional Growth

This essay examines the impact of the event industry on the regional development of Melbourne, Australia. It highlights the significance of the event industry on the city's economic, social, cultural, and environmental development, citing examples such as the Melbourne Cup, Moomba Festival, and Australia Day. The essay argues that the event industry contributes to economic growth by attracting tourists, creating job opportunities, and fostering event tourism. It also enhances social cohesion through community collaboration and revitalizes cultural traditions. Furthermore, the industry promotes environmental sustainability through initiatives like using biodegradable products. The essay concludes that the event industry plays a crucial role in Melbourne's overall regional development.

Running head: EVENT MANAGEMENT
Event Management
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Event industry is directly linked with overall development of a particular region, city or
even country. The aim of this essay is to demonstrate the impact of event industry on the regional
development of a city. The city chosen for this essay is Melbourne of Australia. Moreover, the
essay will highlight the significance of event industry on the regional development of
Melbourne. The essay will also demonstrate various examples of events in Melbourne towards
its economic, social and environmental development.
Melbourne has become the centre stage of major events in Australia all throughout the
year. Steady and rapid growth of event industry has major contribution in the regional
development of Melbourne. Various types of events conducted in this city are like festivals,
sports, tourism, music, hall, mega, cultural, business and lot more. Such events are tightly
integrated with the overall development of the city. Moreover, some popular and significant
types of events of this city are like Melbourne Cup, Moomba Festival, Australia day and many more.
Development of such events contributes in regional development, which includes economic
development, social and cultural development and environmental development.
The event industry of Australia majorly contributes in the economic development of
Melbourne. According to Mair and Whitford (2013), popular events of Melbourne highly attract
the audiences and tourists to purchase the event tickets. In this way, such events enhance the
funding of the region having huge profit earned from the event program. On the other hand,
Kwiatkowski (2016) opined that event programs have also indirect contribution in the economic
development of surrounding businesses like food and beverage, accommodation, transportation
and many others. Moreover, the major events encourage the event attendees in spending money
to have luxurious accommodation, delicious foods and comfortable transportation. Therefore,
growth of event industry has wide contribution in overall business development of almost all

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sectors, which leads to overall economic development of Australia. While considering the
evidence of Melbourne Cup in Melbourne, it can be seen that the event attendees spend almost AUD
$200 on the regional business development of the city over 10 day period (Victoria Racing Club 2017).
Lee, Mjelde and Kwon (2017) pointed out that event industry growth contributed in the
economic development of Melbourne through creating huge job opportunities for the
unemployed youths. Such enhanced employment ultimately increases overall economic growth
of the city. Moreover, the tax collected from the employed persons ultimate develops the
economic growth of the city. While considering the evidence of Melbourne International
Comedy Festival, it has been found that event has created almost 10% job opportunities for
unemployed youth of Melbourne (The Guardian 2017). In this way, this event is actually
contributing in the overall economic growth of the city. On the other hand, Andersson and
Lundberg (2013) opined that event industry also contributes in the economic development of
Melbourne through the development of event tourism. Event tourism is extremely important for
attracting the international tourists in the city for enjoying its specific attraction. Therefore, the
event industry has huge contribution in the economic development and tourism development of
Melbourne through the collection of revenues collected foreign tourists. While considering the
example of Australia Day in Melbourne, it can be found that Australia Day attracts huge numbers of
foreign tourists. In this way, the foreign currencies are added with the local currency, which
contributes in the overall economic development of the city (Australiaday.org.au 2017).
Event industry also contributes in the social and cultural development of Melbourne.
According to Lew (2014), special events drive collaboration of community people towards for its
special arrangement. In this way, such collaboration of people leads to high level of social
cohesion with shared value among those community people. In this way, the event industry

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facilitates in fostering social network within the community. On the other hand, Mair and
Whitford (2013) opined that popular event programs bring community people together and
encourage them to share innovation ideas for community development and community growth.
Hence, such togetherness and collaboration maximize the level of social cohesion with enhanced
trust among the community people. While looking at the example of Sustainable Living
Festival, it can be seen that such festival collaborates people from Government, renewable and
environmental energy groups, experts in climate service. It also brings together the artists,
musicians and other community people for demonstrating the way of community people. Such
event encourages the community people towards sharing innovative ideas of community
development (Visit Victoria home 2017). In this way, such event enhances the social cohesion
among the community people.
Event program results in cultural collaboration among the community people. Lee,
Mjelde and Kwon (2017) pointed out that cultural events revitalize the tradition of Melbourne
and enhances its cultural validation. Such special cultural events of Melbourne attract both
international as well as inter-regional tourists. In this way, such cultural event fosters cultural
collaboration among community people and enhances the cultural perspective of the city. While
taking the evidence of Melbourne Festival, it can be seen that this festival attracts both
international as well as inter-regional tourists. Moreover, such people come to enjoy the special
cultural music, dance, art, theatre, circus and many other special programs of Melbourne
(Australia.gov.au 2017). In this way, such event leads to cultural collaboration among the
community people of Melbourne.
Event industry is also responsible for environmental development of Melbourne.
According to Andersson and Lundberg (2013), the effectiveness and attractiveness of event

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programs are largely dependent on renewal and transformation of urban areas. It leads to
infrastructural development of the urban areas. On the other hand, Mair and Whitford (2013)
opined that event organizations are highly inclined towards revitalizing and appreciating the
special attraction of Melbourne. Therefore, even industry revitalizes and preserves the special
attraction of the particular city. Furthermore, the some event organizations also take active steps
in spreading environmental awareness among the community people. In this way, the event
industry can foster environmental sustainability and assist in protecting the environment from
harmful effects. While considering the example of Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, it can be
seen that this festival majorly uses biodegradable cleaning products in the event programs. Such
biodegradable cleaning products protect the surrounding environment from harmful effects ( Melbourne
Food and Wine Festival 2017). In this way, this event fosters environmental sustainability in the
community.
While concluding the study, it can be said that event industry has huge contribution in the
overall regional development of Melbourne. Event programs contribute in economic
development of the city, when the event attendees purchase the event tickets. Furthermore, the
event industry also indirectly develops the economic condition of other sectors like food and
beverage, accommodation, transportation and many more. Apart from that, the industry is also
directly linked with creation of job opportunity in the city towards its overall economic
development. Event industry has also huge contribution in social and cultural development of
Melbourne. Various event programs of this city lead to cultural collaboration among the
community people. In this way, event industry fosters strong social cohesion and social network
among the community people. On the other hand, event industry preserves and revitalizes the

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special attraction of the city. Therefore, this industry also contributes in the environmental
development of Melbourne.

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Reference List
Andersson, T.D. and Lundberg, E., 2013. Commensurability and sustainability: Triple impact
assessments of a tourism event. Tourism Management, 37, pp.99-109.
Australia.gov.au. 2017. Festivals in Australia | australia.gov.au. [online] Available at:
http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/festivals-in-australia [Accessed 23
Nov. 2017].
Australiaday.org.au. 2017. Australia Day. [online] Available at: https://www.australiaday.org.au/
Kwiatkowski, G., 2016. Economic Impact of Event Attendees' Spending On a Host Region: A
Review of the Research. Event Management, 20(4), pp.501-515.
Lee, C.K., Mjelde, J.W. and Kwon, Y.J., 2017. Estimating the economic impact of a mega-event
on host and neighbouring regions. Leisure Studies, 36(1), pp.138-152.
Lew, A.A., 2014. Scale, change and resilience in community tourism planning. Tourism
Geographies, 16(1), pp.14-22.
Mair, J. and Whitford, M., 2013. An exploration of events research: event topics, themes and
emerging trends. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 4(1), pp.6-30.
Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. 2017. Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. [online] Available
at: http://www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au/ [Accessed 23 Nov. 2017].
The Guardian. 2017. Melbourne International Comedy festival 2017 | Culture | The Guardian.
[online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/melbourne-international-comedy-
festival-2017

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Victoria Racing Club. 2017. Melbourne Cup Carnival. [online] Available at:
https://www.flemington.com.au/melbournecupcarnival
Visit Victoria home. 2017. Sustainable Living Festival, Event, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
[online] Available at:
http://www.visitvictoria.com/regions/Melbourne/Events/Lifestyle/Sustainable-Living-
Festival.aspx