How is the event tourism industry influenced by governments’ strategic planning and policies?
Hamburg is a popular event destination and offers more than a hundred events on a daily basis to locals and tourists. However, in some cases the organisation and management of events collide with policies of the destination and events are strongly influenced. Thus, how do the event organisers guarantee that the event takes place and meets all the regulations?
Unique research on events planning and governmental policy frameworks: case study Hamburg
Since Hamburg has such an extensive event calendar the destination became of interest for this particular research. For my research six experts from the event tourism industry have been interviewed. All participants work in the industry for many years and are nowadays responsible for public large-scale events in Hamburg.
Event management entrepreneurial perspective
My research focuses on the perspective of entrepreneurs in regard to the process of events planning by taking into consideration governmental policy frameworks. The main goal was to answer the question on “How are entrepreneurial actions in the event tourism industry in Hamburg influenced by the local governments’ strategic planning and policies?”. The research shows the following outcomes:
1. Tools to guarantee safety
Most event organisers are influenced by the policies in regard to safety and security measurements. In order to guarantee the safety of all visitors and staff numerous actions have to be taken. Not all organisers are able to implement these policies as they are time and money consuming. For example, during a public event all entrances or exits have to be blocked with massive concert blocks. This is not realisable by all. Therefore, it is recommended to the government to provide certain tools for event organisers to guarantee the safety of all involved people.
2. Framework to visualise guidelines
It also occurred that not all rules and regulations are comprehensible. The government does not make a differentiation based on the event’s purpose. Yet, for the participants of the research it was very important to understand certain rules and regulations. Therefore, a framework which shows how certain guidelines are connected will increase the understanding and the willingness of implementation.
3. Long-term development and communication of strategy
The events are not strategically implemented in the destination development of Hamburg. The participants work closely with Hamburg’s marketing and tourism organisation, but they do not follow a long-term goal. There is a potential for the strategy implementation of events, but this strategy has yet to be developed and communicated.
4. COVID-19 is not taken into account
However, this research was conducted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and therefore the impact of this virus has not been taken into consideration.
Do you want to know more about this research? Get in touch with Laura and she can give you a more detailed insight in the outcomes.
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