Cultural Impacts

Abstract

Cultural impact assessment (CIA) is often combined with social impacts, but there are often very good reasons for a separate approach. CIA is especially relevant for festivals and cultural celebrations, and any event featuring ethnic, indigenous and multicultural themes, or events and tourism located in sensitive cultural communities. This chapter starts with definitions of culture and its elements, leading to an overview of the main related themes found in the tourism and event literature. A set of goals, related methods and key impact indicators is presented as a way to begin thinking about cultural impact assessment. The process and methods of CIA is then detailed, incorporating concepts and methods from earlier chapters.