Impact Of Events On The Development Of Melbourne - A Discussion

Events in Melbourne

Question:

Discuss about the Range Of Events In Melbourne Australia.

Events held in any place largely affect the place both positively and negatively. Events always do not play a constructive role in the regional development of any particular place. Event industry has also been affecting the regional development adversely. The essay will discuss range of events that takes place in Melbourne, the capital of Northern Territory, Australia. Events are planned public and social occasion. Event industry consists of companies that manage and organize events. Events have become a very significant part of any city or region. Whether the city is big or small, events are organized. These events can be festivals, conferences, weddings, parties, conventions, sports and concerts. Wherever events are organized, a number of resources are required. Support of local people is needed to make the events successful. Local people and communities have a lot to contribute towards event. Events also contribute towards the development of the region. Events can be classified into, Hallmark, mega, sports, social and cultural events. The essay will focus on the range of events taking place in Melbourne city.

Melbourne is situated on Timor Sea. The total population of Melbourne is 4,725,316. Melbourne has a huge cultural and ethnic diversity. The scenic beauty of the place makes it a good location for the organizers of various events (Ruhanen and Whitford 2014). Tourism is one of the two economic sectors of the city the other being mining. Tourism employs 8 percent of the population of the city.

Mega event- Mega events include expos, political summits, conventions and festivals. It includes sports events like, Rugby World Cup, Football Super bowl, Tennis Grand slam and Netball World championships. It is not always the number of the audience or public gathering that determines whether an event is mega or not (Kim, Boo and Kim 2013).  The significance of the events also determines whether it is a mega or regular event. Some of the examples of Mega festivals of Melbourne  are given below

Alexandra event- An upcoming mega event that is to be held in Melbourne is Alexandra event 2017. It is the third time the event has been held in Melbourne. Lot of adventure activities are available for the visitors. Geocaching Melbourne provides customers with exciting experiences that ranges from 4WD geocaches to kayaking on the Eildon, tree climbs and walks. Significance of this event is it provides employment opportunities destination appreciation.

Positive Impact of Events

Melbourne music week is another mega event that will be held in the city for nine days. It will be held in Melbourne town hall, the steps of the parliament house, the state library, federation square and MP pavilion. It will be organized at almost every places of the city (Hamilton, Tee and Prideaux 2015). It makes the people aware of the wide range of music genres of regional and global music and hence this event is significant.

Social events- Melbourne cup carnival- This is another mega event of Melbourne. It is one of the best events held in Melbourne as it provides experiences like, racing, entertainment, fashion, culture, food.

Melbourne festival- It is a social event that is organized in Melbourne every year. It is an international arts festival which includes theatre, arts, circus, music and visual arts. It also consist some of the outdoor and free events (Visit Victoria home. 2017). It promotes social interaction and inclusion helps in cultural development

Hallmark events- Hallmark events are big fairs, expos, cultural and sporting events that are of international significance. The idea behind hallmark events is to enhance the significance of the place in terms of international tourism. In order to promote the place the tourism board, local and national Government hosts international events so that the place is gets global attention (Li and Jago 2013).

Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show- This international event is held every year in Melbourne Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens. Carlton Gardens is also a world heritage site. People from all around the world visit Melbourne be a witness of largest horticulture event in the entire Southern Hemisphere (Getz and Page 2016). This event helps in destination appreciation and recognition of the place as tourist destination. Another Hallmark event that grabbed the attention of international audience is 2017 Australian Grand Prix, officially known as 2017 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix. This event is important infrastructure of the destination is improved.

Midsumma Festival- Midsumma festival is one of the social festivals that bring a mix of artists and performers under one roof for celebration of arts and culture. A number of programs are conducted in this event.

Sports events- International sports event and grabs the attention of international media. So they are very important.

Australian Open- It is one of the sports event of international significant that is held every year. The event is held in the Melbourne Park in the last 15 Days of January. This event gets huge media coverage and the number of visitors is also very high. In the year 2017 the number of visitors was 728, 763.

Negative Impact of Events

Positive Impact- Events that take place in any place helps in development of the place. Hall mark events helps in boosting tourism of that place. Events generate a need for labor to provide basic services to the visitors. The local people fulfill the human resource requirement mostly. Events are source of employment to the people living in that area.  Therefore, it can be said that it boosts the economy of the place. Another positive impact of the events is that it provides entertainment to the people of that place. Income of the people is increased and as a result, the standard of living of people is improved. Interaction with people of different culture helps the local people get exposure and awareness about the other cultures. It is also a source of learning new things (Ruhanen and Whitford 2014).

Social events like Melbourne festival show the vivid culture of Melbourne. It boosts the tourism of the city as it promotes the cultural diversity of the city. It causes preservation of culture of that place. Cultural inclusion is one of the aspects of event that affects the lives of aboriginal people living in Australia as they get an opportunity to mix with the people from diverse cultural backgrounds (Andersson and Lundberg 2013).

International events like Melbourne international Garden show create awareness among the international visitors that Melbourne has a World Heritage site. Sports events like Grand Prix requires infrastructure development. Infrastructure development eases the lives of the people in that region.

Negative Impact- Another aspect of economic impact of event tourism is it provides seasonal employment to the people of the place. Too much dependency on event tourism related jobs is not beneficial. Events are not organized frequently. The gap between two events is generally too much. People dependent on yearly events will have to wait for one year. Until then, they will have to be either unemployed or engage into other jobs. Introduction of visitors in cultural sensitive areas where is aborigines might be harmful because it causes loss of culture. One of the concerning negative impacts of events is that it disrupts the ecological balance. When the number of visitors beyond the carrying capacity of the place many challenges are faced. Issues like littering and pollution can be seen. Land, air, water contamination are other major issues that are very harmful for the sustainability of that place.

Conclusion

The impacts of events sometimes adversely affect the region. Too much public gathering often disrupts the ecological balance of the place. It both restores and disturbs the culture of any destination. The positive impact of event is it makes the place known to the other part of the world. This happens in case of mega events. Sports events like international cricket are often organized in TIO stadium, Northline Oval and Tracy village Oval. These kinds of events have television and radio broadcastings. Media involve provides a lot of publicity which benefits the city as it encourages in that place. Thus, it can be concluded that events are have both positive and negative impacts. Events should be organized but its management is very important so that negative impact can be reduced.

References

Andersson, T.D. and Lundberg, E., 2013. Commensurability and sustainability: Triple impact assessments of a tourism event. Tourism Management, 37, pp.99-109.

Getz, D. and Page, S.J., 2016. Event studies: Theory, research and policy for planned events. Routledge.

Hamilton, J.R., Tee, S. and Prideaux, M.C., 2015. Inbound event tourism attendees: a group qualities-values approach at destination. The TQM Journal, 27(2), pp.197-212.

Kim, J., Boo, S. and Kim, Y., 2013. Patterns and trends in event tourism study topics over 30 years. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 4(1), pp.66-83.

Li, S. and Jago, L., 2013. Evaluating economic impacts of major sports events–a meta analysis of the key trends. Current Issues in Tourism, 16(6), pp.591-611.

Ruhanen, L. and Whitford, M., 2014. Indigenous Tourism and Events for Community Development in Australia. In Tourism as an Instrument for Development: A Theoretical and Practical Study (pp. 183-194). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Ruhanen, L., Whitford, M. and McLennan, C.L., 2015. Indigenous tourism in Australia: Time for a reality check. Tourism Management, 48, pp.73-83.

Visit Victoria home. 2017. Melbourne, Australia – Official tourism website for visitors from India. [online] Available at: https://www.visitmelbourne.com/in [Accessed 16 Nov. 2017].