Abstract
In response to the academic need to reconcile economic impact and cost-benefit analysis and the commensurability among multi-dimensional event impacts, this research stresses the net benefit of staging mega-events. Compared with the abundant research on benefits, there has been a limited focus on pricing social costs, which poses a problem. Taking the Canton Fair as a case study, this study examines the integration of the event-induced traffic-related social cost into the economic scope and explores how residents value the cost. The result indicates that the residents bore ¥20.21 traffic-related event social cost per day per person on average during the fair, which is approximately ¥6.19 for each ¥100 of economic benefit derived from hosting the fair. It was found that time loss, financial loss, and transportation mode change were significantly correlated with the individuals’ valuation. The results offer an empirical glimpse of the trade-off between personal cost and collective benefit and provide new insights into valuing externalities with no market value. Practical implications arising from this project are considered for future researchers, organizers of mega-events, and destination management departments.
•This study builds on the call for cost-benefit and holistic event evaluations.•We examined the traffic-related social cost by using contingent valuation.•The respondents bore ¥20.21/day social cost on average during the Canton Fair.•Each ¥100 economic benefit was got at the expense of ¥6.19 traffic social cost.•Time loss, transportation expense, and mode change are influence factors.