Introduction

Existing research on events have highlighted how important they are for communities and individuals (Andrews & Leopold, 2013; Fox, Gouthro, Morakabati, & Brackstone, 2014; Mallen & Adams, 2013; Yeoman, Robertson, Ali-Knight, Drummond, & McMahon-Beattie, 2009). To do so, Andrews and Leopold (2013), for instance, have used a variety of arguments. Amongst these are: (1) History. They have indeed highlighted the fact events, and, more specifically, festivals and cultural events, have always been prominent whether in pre-modern society, modern society and post-modern society.

This view is also shared by Fox et al. (2014, p. 4), who argued that ‘special events have been part of human society ever since there have been people to get together for a short time to do something different’. Andrews and Leopold (2013) have also highlighted the (2) social aspect of events, which is playing a significant role in developing social capital amongst individuals within a community. To play this cement role, Mallen and Adams (2013) have explained that events are evolving at the same pace of individuals within the community. The term ‘event-based tourism’, for instance, has appeared because of the growing tourism and economic impact of events for some communities (Yeoman et al., 2009). Finally, Andrews and Leopold (2013) emphasised on the (3) legacy aspect of events, through the concept of habitus, meaning that the type of events individuals tends to like are often inherited from their parents.