Residents' perceptions of Izmir Internatinaol Fair's impacts

Events are important attractiveness' for the destinations competing in both local and international markets. As such, events have become important niche due to their impacts such as creating employment, rejuvenating local economy and extending the tourism season in destinations. However, studies reveal that event tourism has both positive and negative impacts on the host community. This leads us to the fact that further studies are needed to examine the perceptions of the local community towards events and event tourism in order to sustain successful events. The objective of this study is to examine the perceptions of the local community towards the Izmir International Fair. The study employed a survey instrument on 422 fair visitors from local community at the Izmir International Fair in 2013. The results suggest that the local residents had positive and negative perception towards the impacts of the fair. Unlike a lot of works about impacts of event tourism, this study show that fair does not increase crime rate and use of alcohol/drug. Further it was also found that the perceptions of the local residents towards the impacts of the fair varied significantly according to their demographics. In the last section of the study, the findings were discussed and the implications and conclusions were drawn for the fair organizers and the academia. Key Words: Events, event tourism, impacts of event tourism, perceptions of local residents.