Dimensión Humana: Más allá de título y la labor

Despite the outcomes of special events being well recognised, if not necessarily precisely measured, and the fact that there has been discussion regarding the definition of special events in general, and hallmark events in particular (Burns, Hatch and Mules 1986; Getz 1989 and 1991a; Hall 1991 and 1992; Jago and Shaw 1994), there is still no inclusive and widely accepted definition for special events. “Defining event is a straightforward matter; determining what makes one special is problematic” (Getz 1991a, p. 43). Much of the literature focuses on the various characteristics of special events (Stokes 1996) and some of the reasons that they are staged. The literature does not, however, detail what special events are, in such a manner that would enable one to determine the range of events that would be classed as special, versus those that would not. Shultis, Johnston and Twynam (1994) stated that “it is a measure of the adolescence of research on these tourist events that terminology utilised by researchers ... has not yet become standardised” (p. 167), and they implied that the “lack of a unified terminology” (p. 168) should be resolved with more research.

The requirement for a widely accepted definition of a special event is not just an academic exercise, as a definition helps ensure that subsequent studies include

common elements, which is fundamental for both the reliability and validity of these studies. In order to analyse thoroughly special events, a clear definition and a typological framework are needed as a starting point. Without these, one’s ability to “exploit [special events] for tourism and to create new events deliberately as tourist attractions” (Getz 1989, p. 125) will be greatly impeded. Clear definitions are essential if there is to be any chance of comparing special event statistics collected by different government organisations, let alone make comparisons between research studies. In the general field of tourism, the World Tourism Organisation has expended substantial effort attempting to rationalise definitions relating to international tourism as it is recognised that “the standardisation of definitions is important for research purposes and necessary for measuring tourism as an economic activity” (French, Craig-Smith and Collier 1995, p. 4). There are many examples in other fields of study to illustrate the long term confusion that results from unclear definitions or hazy distinctions. Consider, for example, the confusion that has existed over the distinctions between: products / goods / services; travel / tourism; tourism / hospitality; and marketing / promotion / advertising. Definitions and typological frameworks for special events are also important in the planning and other aspects of the management of such events (Hall 1992), which include the development of marketing programs for these events.

In the special event field, the definitional problem is exacerbated by the common use of a number of related terms such as event, special event, hallmark event, major event, mega-event, festival, and fair, which tends to blur further whatever boundaries do exist between the different categories.

The practical need for this definitional exercise arose from a discussion with a General Manager of a State Tourism Organisation, where the terms ‘event’, ‘special event’, and ‘major event’ were used both interchangeably and also to denote differences between event types. When asked about the interchangeable use of these terms, the General Manager stated that the definitions were more than a little hazy and caused confusion within his organisation. The confusion regarding definitions had led this particular State Tourism Organisation to make more use of the term ‘event’ rather than ‘special event’, and to then use a size descriptor, such as ‘major’

or ‘hallmark’, to denote larger events. Therefore, from a practical perspective there is a clear need to provide a universal definition, or at least a definitional framework, for the term ‘special event’.

Although the need for a commonly accepted definition is clear, the likelihood that such an outcome can be achieved is subject to some doubt, according to various researchers. Defining the term ‘special event’ is a difficult task because of the very diverse range of event types that could potentially be included (Hawkins and Goldblatt 1995). The range of event types and the variety of terms used to describe them have complicated the search for a single definition in that the relationship between the various categories of events is unclear. Are they really different categories or just different names for the same phenomenon? A project team established by Tourism Canada in 1986 to define festivals and events, concluded “that festivals and events, by their very organisation and nature, are difficult to define” (Tourism Canada 1989, p. 2). The term special event can embrace a wide variety of elements including “contests, concerts, exhibitions, dancing, theatre, sports, children’s events, parades, beauty contests, flea markets, raffles or lotteries, races, and tours” (Sonmez, Backman and Allen 1993, p. 111-112). Getz (1991a) argued that “a universal definition is probably not practical” (p. 125) and suggested that the definition of special events varies with the perspective of the individual. According to Getz, the problem of defining special events was so difficult that he provided a glossary for reference purposes. In the years since 1991, Getz obviously hardened his view regarding a special event definition as he made the comment in his second book that “it will never be possible to come up with a universal, standardised definition, nor a classification of which types of events are exceptional or special” (Getz 1997, p. 4). An additional complication was proposed by Hall (1992), who suggested that events are not frozen in time and that both the meaning and significance of events could change with changes in society.