The quality and value of Hualien’s Amis Harvest Festival

Abstract

This commentary examines how events-related research has and increasingly contributes to tourism studies, and how these lines of argument have evolved over the last thirty years, primarily in Annals of Tourism Research. I explicate the theoretical features of events, how previous work has conceptualized them, and why events are unique organizational settings to contribute to theory development. This is particularly significant as events are increasingly delivered in public, cultural and tourist spaces – an extra-territorial shift with implications for the future study and practice of tourism. I close by calling for a more plural conception of events, inclusive of world events, which share similar conceptual features to cultural and sporting events that typically dominate social analysis in event and tourism studies.