The Impact of Cultural Events on the City Image and Development: Residents’ Perspective
The Impact of Cultural Events on the City Image and Development: Residents’ Perspective

Author(s): Tatjana Pivac, Sanja Kovačić, Ivana Blešić, Marija Cimbaljević
Subject(s): Economy, Tourism
Published by: Udruženje ekonomista i menadžera Balkana
Keywords: Cultural events; European capital of culture; Residents’ perspective; Novi Sad
Summary/Abstract: Cultural festivals and major cultural events have various effects on the overall city development. This especially comes to the light in case of the cities caring the title of European Capital of culture. Nowadays, there are plenty of studies on cultural events, with the majority of them focusing on cultural tourists’ perceptions and perspectives. The local community, as a very important key actor, however, is very often neglected in the studies. In light of the fact that Novi Sad (Serbia) is caring the title of European Capital of Culture in 2022, this paper focuses on the local community and its perception of the impact of the cultural events on all aspects of the city’s development, including city image. Data were collected before the title year (in 2020 and 2021) via a survey filled by 239 residents of Novi Sad. The results indicate that residents consider cultural events the most beneficial in terms of improving city image, creating opportunities for international publicity, providing entertainment and learning opportunities for the local community, as well as contributing to a better understanding of different cultures and generating tourism income. On the other hand, negative effects are related to the increase in service prices, the total price of living and the increase in alcohol and drug consumption. Differences in sociodemographic characteristics are analyzed and discussed in the paper.

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