Lisbon’s Web Summit

: an event and tourism impact study

Abstract

The Web Summit, founded in 2009, began as 400-person a technology conference with the aim of joining together tech-enthusiasts and businesses in a community that would allow for greater networking and spreading of ideas, projects and even relationships. Today, it has an attendance rate of around 60,000 people and is considered to be the epitome of technology conferences, joining together the most iconic and revolutionary speakers in an environment where communication and bonding is key. In 2016, Web Summit moved deeper into European territory and is now located in Lisbon, Portugal, bringing with it large volumes of attendees. What this thesis aims to identify are the internal pressures that a hallmark event such as the Web Summit has on the local community, using benchmarks of the local event paradigm for a better understanding of the event’s specificities, and how the event and governmental entities are combating these. These hallmark events are classified through their large attendance volumes that have the power to both benefit and disrupt the local community. Therefore, an in-depth analysis on attendee expenditure into the community in the form of recreational activity will be put forth in order to understand what the event is offering in term of tourism add-on. The conclusions aim to understand if in fact the Web Summit does provide this touristic addon and to what extent the Web Summit is enhancing or damaging the local community with its presence.

Date of Award	16 Mar 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rute Sofia Barbosa Xavier Lino (Supervisor)