2nd Symposium on Estimating the Impacts of Tourism and Events Future challenges of event impact assessment Organized by the Centre for Tourism (School of Business, Economics and Law at University of Gothenburg) and BFUF (the R&D fund of the Swedish Tourism & Hospitality Industry Where: the Swedish Fair in Gothenburg, Sweden When: March 18-19, 2015 The scope of impact analysis has been expanded to include more than the direct expenditures of event tourists. Advanced and refined methods for estimating economic impacts are available for researchers as well as event practitioners. Social, cultural and environmental impacts are also important aspects for the assessment of tourism and event impacts, which has evolved significantly over the last decade. Comprehensive evaluation systems are needed for events and event-tourism agencies. This year’s symposium will focus on the state of the art and future challenges of event evaluation and impact assessment. In particular research methods applied to describe, measure and analyse economic, social, cultural and environmental event impacts will be discussed. The aim of the symposium is to identify and discuss future challenges of event impact assessment focusing on research methods. Invited scholars will present a summary of their work and contribution to the field and together discuss future challenges and ways forward. Another aim is that the contributions should be included in an edited book with chapters from invited scholars on the theme of the symposium. Moderators: Professor Donald Getz Professor Tommy D. Andersson The symposium is organised by Centre for Tourism at the University of Gothenburg together with BFUF. It will be held over two days (lunch-to-lunch) at the Swedish fair during the yearly Tourism Fair. Two sessions will be held, starting after lunch on Wednesday, 18 March 2015 and ending the day after around noon. Participants are also invited to the Swedish Visitor Industry Forum, TUR 2015, on Thursday the 19th of March in the afternoon, where the Keynote speaker will address the issues of event impact assessment to an audience of event and tourism practitioners and academics. All sessions will be held in English. Keynote: Professor Donald Getz Organising Committee – Contact information Tommy D. Andersson, prof. Centre for Tourism (tommy.andersson@handels.gu.se) Erik Lundberg, PhD, Centre for Tourism (erik.lundberg@handels.gu.se) Stina Algotson, CEO, BFUF (stina@bfuf.se) John Armbrecht, PhD, Director of the Centre for Tourism (john.armbrecht@handels.gu.se) Eva Fohlstedt, Head of communications, BFUF (eva@bfuf.se) Emma Fröjd, secretary Centre for Tourism (emma.frojd@handels.gu.se)