This study develops a typology of exhibition and trade fair infrastructures in Europe, examining their spatial, institutional, and functional dimensions within urban and regional planning. Using a multidimensional dataset on capacity, accessibility, and support services, it distinguishes between large metropolitan venues and smaller peripheral facilities. The analysis highlights spatial asymmetries, with mature infrastructures concentrated in Western and Central Europe, and newer venues in less integrated regions. Variations in scale and connectivity reflect differing institutional capacities and planning roles. The findings inform spatial policy, emphasizing exhibitions as strategic nodes that enhance territorial cohesion, innovation ecosystems, and regional resilience.
Hosting sports tourism events may also bring about possible image benefits, having the potential to generate future revenue opportunities by attracting visitors. Our research note presents the impact of a sport tourism event on destination image as perceived by tourists (fans) at the 2018 Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Cycling Championships staged in Innsbruck-Tyrol, Austria. Our quantitative study measured changes in destination image longitudinally with a sample of N = 509 of the same participants in pre-and post-surveys. The findings indicate that the event seems to contribute positively to the cognitive image perceptions of "sport followers," who perceive the destination (in this case Innsbruck-Tyrol) as more modern and more international after the event than before. However, regarding non-sport followers, while there is no change in the vector "modern-traditional," a development toward "more international" can also be observed. The findings of this study provide initial support for the positive image impacts of sport tourism events among the people who follow sports.
In recent years, the number of fake news stories significantly increased in the world, especially with the widespread use of social media. it has impacted several industries, including the events industry and events tourism. the spread of fake news can contribute to the reduction of attendance, visitor numbers and even damage the reputation of an event, contributing to economic loss. this research explores how misinformation shape public perception, how fake news appear in the events sector, and how it affects visitor trust and future attendance in the events industry, including concerts, festivals, sporting events, conferences. First, in a literature review, previous aca-demic resources on fake news and its impact on visitors is col-lected and analyzed, to give a well-rounded view on the issue. it is followed by content analysis, which uses case studies and media coverage to identify patterns in the spread of fake news stories in the events industry. initial findings suggest that fake news stories may lead to lower attendance rates, public safety concerns and may also lead to the damaged reputation of events and host destinations, which also contributes to eco-nomic loss. the study highlights the need for misinformation management by event organizers and the media.
Given the importance of festival tourism on local tourism growth and benefits, this study addresses the role of awe in shaping memorable tourism experiences and behavioral intention in the context of festival tourism. Using both structural equation modeling (SEM) and configuration analysis, this study provides comprehensive insights into the symmetric and asymmetric causal recipes for deriving festival participants' behavioral intentions from two survey samples of festival visitors. The symmetrical analysis results reveal that perceived awe triggered by festival atmospherics positively relates to memorability and leads to positive behavioral intention. The asymmetrical analysis results suggest causal recipes leading to behavioral intentions from configurations of festivalscape, awe, and memorability. The necessary condition of memorability for high revisit intention and high word of mouth is also identified. The findings from symmetric and asymmetric analyses provide useful implications for marketing and managing festivals to both enhance the festival experience and avoid its negation.
This study conducts a comparative bibliometric analysis of academic research on green events, drawing on data retrieved in 2025 from the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. A total of 115 WoS records and 195 Scopus records were identified using keywords such as "green event," "eco-friendly event," and "sustainable event." Following the exclusion of irrelevant fields, descriptive statistics were employed to examine publication trends by year, country, institution, author, journal, and citation count. Network analyses using VOSviewer mapped co-authorship patterns and keyword co-occurrence clusters. The results reveal that Malaysia, China, and the United Kingdom are leading contributors, with Malaysian scholars playing a particularly central role. Keywords highlight the growing integration of themes such as sustainability, waste management, corporate social responsibility, and pro-environmental behavior. Beyond descriptive insights, the study contributes theoretically by demonstrating how green event research aligns with sustainability transitions, stakeholder engagement, and the triple bottom line framework. It identifies key contributors, intellectual clusters, and emerging research gaps, thereby positioning green events as an evolving interdisciplinary field within tourism and sustainability studies. The findings provide a reference point for scholars and practitioners seeking to advance knowledge and practice in sustainable event management and related environmental research.
The decision-making process among participants of in-person academic association conferences is shaped by multiple factors, with the characteristics of the host tourism destination gaining increasing relevance in the post-pandemic context. This study explores how perceptions of destination value influence conference selection, reflecting trends in business tourism and changing attendee preferences. Using an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, the research combines 41 qualitative interviews with a quantitative survey of 310 valid responses from participants of conferences held between 2018 and 2023. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) assesses the impact of destination-related factors within a multidimensional value framework encompassing functional, emotional, and social dimensions. The findings highlight the importance of destination image and show that satisfaction with both the event and the location strongly influences future behavioural intentions. By incorporating these insights into a refined model of attendee decision-making, the study contributes to the theoretical advancement of conference tourism and offers practical guidance for event organizers and destination marketers.
The Meetings, Events, Exhibitions, and Conventions (MEEC) industry has undergone a transformative shift toward hybrid event formats, integrating physical and digital participation post pandemic. This evolution has accelerated the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) across event planning, execution, and evaluation, necessitating a reconceptualization of leadership in hybrid contexts. This research note introduces AI-Enhanced Experiential Leadership (AIEL), a conceptual framework that positions AI as a co-creative partner while emphasizing leadership mediation to generate cognitive, emotional, and social participant outcomes. Grounded in experiential, servant, and transformational leadership theories, AIEL delineates AI-enabled mechanisms including personalization, immersive infrastructures, accessibility, and sustainability analytics and explains how leadership translates these technological inputs into ethically responsible, inclusive, and engaging hybrid experiences. The framework also identifies risks such as algorithmic bias, data governance challenges, and over-automation, highlighting the critical role of human judgment, ethical oversight, and organizational readiness. The research proposes empirical pathways for validating AIEL and provides practical implications for MEEC practitioners, emphasizing the orchestration of AI-human collaboration, participant-centric design, and sustainability-conscious operations. AIEL thus offers a theoretically grounded and actionable model for advancing hybrid event leadership in the digital era.
Although still in an early and contested phase of development, the "metaverse" supports immersive and multisensory forms of participation that transcend geographic constraints. This represents a significant departure from traditional meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) formats centered on physical attendance and distinguishing the metaverse from standalone virtual or augmented reality environments. However, academic inquiry into the experience economy within the virtual MICE context remains limited. Drawing on the experience economy framework and cognitive appraisal theory, this study examines how virtual MICE experiences evoke awe and how this emotion shapes post-event behaviors. Using data from 452 Chinese participants analyzed via partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the results reveal that entertainment, esthetics, education, and escapism significantly influence awe, which in turn enhances electronic word-of-mouth and repeat participation intentions. Awe serves as a key psychological mechanism that partially mediates these relationships, understanding its central role in immersive virtual MICE environments. This study advances theoretical understanding by extending the experience economy framework to the metaverse MICE setting. Furthermore, It offers practical implications for event organizers seeking to design emotionally engaging, technologically enhanced experiences that foster sustained audience engagement.
This study examines how service robots are transforming work and service provision in Thailand's meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) sector through grounded theory. While robotics is often depicted as a job replacement, interviews with 20 industry leaders revealed a framework for human-robot synergy, in which automation facilitates human activity rather than replacing it. This challenges the linear claims of Disruptive Innovation Theory and proposes a Human-Centered Robotic Integration (HuCRI) framework that reconceptualizes service robot adoption by proposing hybrid service models through the Role Allocation Matrix (RAM), which incorporates segmented roles for both robots and humans. Perspectives from Emotional Labor Theory and Hofstede's cultural dimensions are adapted to explain human-robot interactions, demonstrating that emotional authenticity and cultural fluency, crucial for robot acceptance in Thai hospitality industry. Inclusive Innovation theory is embedded by aligning workforce reskilling, SME inclusion, and ethical policy-making with the HuCRI framework. The study offers ethically guided and culturally aware approaches to automation, ensuring that technology enhances rather than undermines service quality, labor dignity, and guest satisfaction. The findings make theoretical and managerial contributions to the development of ethical, inclusive, and context-sensitive automation for service industries disrupted by technology in culturally sensitive environments, such as Thailand.
This study, grounded in Butler's Tourism Area Life Cycle model, investigates the life cycle of the Balaton Sound music festival, with specific emphasis on its developmental trajectory, peak period, and subsequent decline. The analysis provides a structured framework for examining the evolution of the festival across six distinct stages and assessing its regional impacts. The research employs a mixed-methods approach. The qualitative component explores the festival's life cycle stages, its social impacts on the local community, community responses, and shifts in the festival's public image. The quantitative analysis includes data on visitor numbers, guest nights, and changes in the Gini index during festival periods. Findings indicate that the festival reached its zenith in the mid-2010s, characterized by both high tourism significance and elevated social prestige. The decline, however, was primarily triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, shifts in consumer preferences, and declining perceived value, all of which diminished the overall festival experience. The study concludes that although Balaton Sound played a crucial role in shaping summer tourism in the region for over a decade, recent economic, environmental, and social challenges led to its discontinuation and the restructuring of Zam & aacute;rdi's tourism economy. The results are utilizable for DMOs and other industry stakeholders.
