Web-based Delphi Survey
24. Mass of solid waste per attendee
Decision - Indicator unchanged Accept Modify
Reject
14 3 2
4.7.9
Suite of Indicators
The final list of impacts and the suite of corresponding indicators is presented in Table 4.17. In all there are 23 indicators, specifically, eight economic, five social and ten environmental. It should be noted that in regard to the impacts, energy and water consumption were separated.
Table 4.17 Key Impacts and Proposed Indicators
TBL Dimension Impact Indicator
Business leveraging and investment opportunities
Number of businesses hosted at event
Category of business representatives hosted: Senior management, Middle management, Other
Destination
promotion Dollar value of positive, negative and balanced newspaper, television and radio coverage of the destination in target areas
Number of visiting journalists from target areas Economic impact
on the host community
Direct inscope expenditure of the event Employment
opportunities and skills development
Number of full time equivalent jobs created
Number of people given training as part of the event Economic
Legacy of infrastructure and facilities
Dollar value of new infrastructure and facilities established for the event
Celebration of
community values Impact of the event on sense of community Community Pride Number of positive letters to editor in local
newspaper during event period
Impact of the event on community pride Impact on the
quality of life of the host community
Impact of the event on the quality of life of the community as a whole
Social
Impact on the quality of life of local residents
Impact of the event on the personal quality of life' Education and
promotion of environmental programs
Amount spent on promotion of environmental programs as percentage of event related expenditure Existence of an environmental and education plan Energy
Consumption Amount of energy used per attendee Percent of energy that comes from renewable sources
Estimate of energy used for transport to and from the event
Water
Consumption Volume of water used per attendee Net water consumed (minus water recycled) per event visitor
Environmental
Waste Generation Mass of waste sent to landfill
Ratio of recycled waste compared with non-recycled waste
4.7.10Weightings across Indicator Dimensions
The final question in Round Three asked panel members to suggest a weighting out of 100 across each of the TBL dimensions. The aim was to use this information to inform a later stage in the research in which the indicators would be integrated into a TBL model such as that proposed by Fredline, et al. (2004), which was outlined in Chapter Three. As shown in Table 4.18, the weightings were relatively evenly spread across each of the dimensions, particularly for the social and environmental impacts. In regard to the economic impacts, the legacy of infrastructure and facilities was given a noticeably lower weighting than the other indicators.
Table 4.18 Weightings across Indicator Dimensions
Economic Weighting
Economic impact on the host community 26.5
Destination promotion 22.0
Employment opportunities and skills development 19.5
Business leveraging and investment opportunities 18.4
Legacy of infrastructure and facilities 14.0
Social
Quality of life of the host community 27.5
Quality of life of local residents 25.8
Community pride 24.5
Celebration of community values 22.3
Environmental
Energy and water consumption 36.9
Waste generation 33.7
Education and promotion of environmental programs 29.4
4.8
Conclusion
Through a comprehensive analysis of a large body of event evaluation-related publications and impact assessments, the previous chapter presented a list of the key impacts used in event evaluations. The aim of this chapter was to consult with a panel of event experts to develop indicators to measure the key impacts, which was achieved through a Web-based Delphi survey. Initially, the chapter discussed the Delphi method and revealed how the technique has been used to gather the opinions of experts on a range of issues. In general, Delphi surveys have been used in two ways, namely, to predict future scenarios or to propose solutions to complex issues.
The chapter revealed that whilst Web-based surveys have been used in a number of research areas, there appear to be few studies that used Web-based Delphi surveys, particularly in tourism and event research.
This study used a modified, three-round Web-based Delphi method and the aim was to consult with a panel of event experts in order to develop a suite of indicators to measure the TBL impacts. In the first round, panel members were asked to consider the list of impacts and were given the opportunity to add or remove impacts. In the second round, the expert panel were asked to suggest indicators for each of the impacts. In the third round, panel members were asked to reflect on the indicators and to make recommendations to either accept, modify or reject each of the indicators. Based on these recommendations, a pool of indicators was proposed, which was presented in Table 4.7. The Web-based Delphi survey represented Step 3 in the indicator development process (Segnestam et al. 2000), which underpins the structure of this thesis. Segnestam et al. (2000) recommended that Step 3 in the process be the establishment of a consultative network. The next stage in the study is to develop an event evaluation framework and to further refine the pool of indicators. This will be the aim of the proceeding chapter.