Tourism Geographies, Vol. 7, No.

1, 63–85, February 2005

Evaluating the Economic and Spatial

Effects of an Event: The Case of the
World Medical and Health Games
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JOANNE CONNELL & STEPHEN J. PAGE

Department of Marketing, University of Stirling, UK
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ABSTRACT This paper examines the spatial implications of the hosting of a special event in 2003
in the City of Stirling, the World Medical and Health Games. This was the first event hosted in
the city since it received City status and was an attempt to assess the extent to which the city
could accommodate a medium-sized event while utilizing the sport infrastructure in the wider
region to support event development. The paper argues that the use of generalized multiplier
analysis does not offer sufficient precision or detail when looking at the impact of events. This
paper uses a business survey technique to assess the effects on local businesses to understand in
detail how an event can affect the space economy of a region during an event.

KEY WORDS: World Medical and Health Games, spatial effects, public sector intervention,
special events

Introduction

There has been a growing interest among geographers in the contribution

of festivals and events to tourism development (Page and Hall 2002), place-
marketing and place-identity (de Bres and Davis 2001; Quinn 2003) and
regional and economic development, as well as the social and cultural ram-
ifications of events in different places. Many of the arguments associated
with the promotion of event strategies in different localities (e.g. O’Sullivan
and Jackson 2002) to pump-prime, nurture and develop a visitor market is
based upon the premise of ‘attracting non-residents to the community with

Correspondence Address: Stephen J. Page, Department of Marketing, University of

Stirling, Stirling, Scotland FK9 4LA. Fax: 01786 464745; Tel.: 01786 466451; Email:
s.j.page@stir.ac.uk

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1461–6688 print/1470-1340 Online /05/010063–23
C 2005 Taylor & Francis Ltd

DOI: 10.1080/1461668042000324067
 64 J. C o n n e l l & S . J. P a g e
the expectation that their spending will contribute significantly to the local
economy’ (Long and Perdue 1990: 10). These arguments have often led to
significant public sector expenditure to develop, underwrite and promote
event-based tourism development, as notable examples such as Edinburgh’s
internationally acclaimed Hogmanay celebrations each year show. Yet, as
the experience in 2003 with cancellation due to adverse weather conditions
indicate, losses of over £1.5 million highlight the scale of financial losses and
risk which such events carry (Bowdin et al. 2001).
Much of the burgeoning literature on events and festivals tends to tread
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a familiar path, evaluating economic or other impacts to answer common

research questions associated with the estimated economic impact of the
event. Such work is frequently linked to public policy-making to assess if
the investment in promoting individual events or a strategy based on event
development does, in fact, generate the desired economic benefits in a de-
fined geographical area. These studies generally conclude that staying visitors
make a significant contribution through accommodation expenditure dur-
ing multiple-day events, although the magnitude of the estimated economic
impacts depends upon the characteristics of the festival/event (i.e. the dura-
tion), the nature of the local economy (i.e. other attractions and linkages)
(Chahabra et al. 2002), whilst expenditure on food and beverage is highest
during single-day events. Although computer software now exists to estimate
these impacts (see Brown et al. 2002), using well-known regional economic
methods (i.e. input–output analysis and economic multipliers), it is a tru-
ism that these models are only as useful as the data collected and input to
validate and calibrate the findings (e.g. Breen et al. 2001). The majority of
published articles in the tourism journals and Event Management also focus
in-depth on the methodological issues in arriving at frameworks which are
appropriate for estimating economic impacts (Tyrell and Johnston 2001).
Many frameworks proposed have inherent bias, problems of under- and
over-recording of economic data, as well as concerns on the margin of error
and how representative such studies are. In most cases, the data collected are
based upon visitor surveys to establish expenditure (as well as motivation
to visit, see Nicholson and Pearce (2001) for an example) and so contain
many of the problems familiar to tourism researchers (Getz 1994). Yet, the
outcome of many studies is a level of generalization in terms of economic
effect that is either too imprecise to understand fully the spatial impact at a
variety of scales. One interesting approach by Long and Perdue (1990) used
one question on a survey instrument to assess the impact of visitor expen-
diture in seven areas. Where other business surveys have been employed to
evaluate impacts, the level of spatial analysis is notably absent since the re-
search question familiar to geographers – who gets what, where and when?–
is rarely posed.
This paper seeks to address this shortcoming in much of the event liter-
ature by examining a medium-scale sporting event, the World Medical and
Health Games (WMHG), hosted in 2003, to assess the spatial distribution of
 P l a c e : E v a l u a t i n g t h e E f f e c t o f a n E v e n t 65
economic effects at the micro scale. The main purpose of the paper is to illus-
trate that where economic impacts occur, they are not necessarily distributed
evenly in time and space. To the contrary, events can also generate ‘winners’
and ‘losers’ geographically and policy-makers need to be acutely aware of
these spatial effects when investing in strategies to promote tourism based
on events and festivals. The paper commences with a brief review of the
geographical and tourism context associated with the City of Stirling’s deci-
sion to host the WMHG in 2003, and its relationship to event development,
the WMHG as an event and the expected economic impact it would derive.
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Then, the findings of a survey of businesses conducted during the event to

examine the impact of the Games on their business in economic terms, and
thereby the spatial impact, are explored. Subsequently, the implications for
event management and the development of tourism in both an urban and
rural context are reviewed, highlighting the importance of place, space and
scale in informing public policy to ensure economic benefits are maximized.

The Geographical and Economic Context of Tourism in Stirling

and its Environs

In 2002, Stirling received City status and has traditionally been a strategic
location within Scotland’s central belt, being accessible to all parts of the
country since it is located at a crossroads between highland and lowland
(Page and Hall 2002). It is located in the Forth Valley (Figure 1) which is a
combination of urban industrial development to the south of the region, re-
tailing in the key settlements and tourism. It also comprises a diverse range of
rural environments from the near-urban areas through to mountain and more
wilderness areas to the north and west of the region, including the Trossachs
and Breadalbane region (Figure 1). In terms of its tourism development, the
City of Stirling is the region’s major nucleus for tourism development, both
as a central place and location of key attractions and services.
Much of Stirling’s recent success in tourism development can be attributed
to public–private sector partnerships in urban regeneration, with tourism de-
veloped initially on a product based on heritage (e.g. Stirling Castle and his-
torical associations with the film Braveheart) and retailing. The wider Stirling
District as a visitor region comprises a number of towns and rural districts,
served by Stirling, with 55 percent of the population resident in the urban
areas, dominated by Stirling City with a population of 29,409 (2000 figures).
The tourism economy is estimated to be worth almost £330 million to the
Stirling District, with 67 percent of revenue accounted for by the city area
and 33 percent by rural Stirlingshire. In 2002, the region received 4.3 million
visitors, of whom 77 percent were day visitors. In terms of employment, the
largest sector is Distribution, Hotel and Catering (22%) and other services
(32.5%). More specifically, 6.5 percent of those employed in Forth Valley
are directly involved in tourism (7,900 people), while up to 10,000 were