Evaluating the effect of events on sustainable development of tourism in uzbekistan

Festivals and events can be understood as ‘formal periods or programs of pleasurable activities, entertainment, or events having a festive character and publicly celebrating some concept, happening or fact’. The festive and public celebratory characteristics noted in this definition are important because festivals and events have long existed as significant cultural practices devised as forms of public display, collective celebration and civic ritual. In fact, people in all cultures recognize the need to set aside certain times and spaces for communal creativity and celebration. These practices date back centuries. Often they were allied to the rhythms of agrarian society. Very often there were religious underpinnings, as in many of the festivals existed in the Middle Ages. Public displays and civic ritual were significant in Renaissance times, while imperial and international exhibitions came to be part of both public life and the collective imagination in Europe from the middle of the 19th century onwards. Researchers consistently point to the fact that throughout these earlier periods, festivals and events “encapsulate identity, in terms of the nation state, a sense of place, and the personal and heterogeneous identities of a people”.² Historical research demonstrates how festival and events have a long history of acting as tourist attractions and of effecting the reproduction of places as tourism destinations.
The term ‘event‘ is used to describe a wide range of activities many of which have quite different characteristics. Such events range from the Olympic Games at the mega-event end of the scale to small regional festivals. An event can be defined as “a onetime or infrequently occurring event of limited duration that provides the consumer with a leisure and social opportunity beyond everyday experience”.³
Events vary from local community based events (e.g Folk Festivals) to major events (e.g The Olympics). The nature of events can also differ due to the number of venues used during the event. Events can be all inclusive at one venue or held at many venues throughout a region. Multiple venue events are more difficult to evaluate or assess as boundaries become blurred, the sample and study area gets larger, and there is often a chance of counting the same visitor many times.
A framework for the categorization of events is useful for determining strategic gaps through the identification of different events, their timing, location and themes. It is also useful to classify events in order to assess economic performance against criteria such as the timing of the event (whether a summer or winter event), its location, or its themes (whether it is an active sports event, or a passive music event).
The thematic nature of events can be used to either justify or disqualify the benefits or advantages of events based on their importance to the host community. An event that spreads the seasonality of tourism in a region also distributes the flow of money into a region, increasing the opportunities for full time employment. Other factors that may contribute to a successful event could include :
• Increasing visitor length of stay in region/town;
• Increasing visitor expenditure in region/town;
• Improving destination awareness;
• Increasing civic pride or community solidarity.
There are different criteria for classification of events. The basic one classifies events as planned and unplanned. Planned events are the subject of study of event management and they require setup, management, executives and certain length of time. Unplanned events are accidents, natural disasters and other similar, and they will not be taken into consideration in this paper. If the events are classified according to their size and scope, it is possible to distinguish the following four types:
1. Mega events
2. Hallmark events
3. Major events
4. Local events